GIFT  OF 
Dr»  rt'illiam  H»   Ivie 


/ 


THERE  SHE  BLOWS! 


OR, 


THE  LOG  OF  THE  ARETHUSA. 


CAPT.    W.    H.    MACY. 

OF   NANTUCKET. 


BOSTON 

LEE     &     SHEPARD,     PUBLISHERS 

NEW  YORK  : 
CHARLES    T.    DILLINGHAM 


COFYHIGHT,    1877, 
BY 

LEE  &  SHEPARD. 


THE  AUTHOR  TO  HIS  READERS. 


THE  story  embodied  in  these  pages  is  not  to  be 
regarded  as  a  mere  "  yarn."  It  is  rather  a  series  of 
illustrated  sketches  of  actual  life  on  the  ocean,  made 
up  of  real  incidents  and  introducing  for  the  most 
part  real  characters,  many  of  which  will  be  recognized. 
Indeed  the  author  may  truly  say  that  in  writing  these 
"  Leaves,"  he  felt  himself  simply  telling  a  story — not 
making  one. 

Since  its  first  publication  in  serial  form,  nine  years 
ago,  he  has  been  stricken  with  one  of  the  heaviest  of 
physical  infirmities.  Doomed  to  life-long  blindness, 
the  recollection  of  years  spent  at  sea  in  the  prime  of 
manhood,  come  crowding  upon  him  more  thickly  than 
ever,  and  he  finds  his  chief  solace  in  having  still  re 
tained  the  ability  to  write  them  down  for  the  benefit 
and  amusement  of  others.  His  sea-faring  friends,  as 
they  overhaul  the  log  of  their  own  experience,  will  at 
once  recognize  the  truthfulness  of  the  pictures  he  has 
drawn  here. 

W.  H.  M. 

NANTUCKET,  MASS.,  August,  1877. 


M548870 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

PAGE. 

FROM  PECK  SLIP  TO  NANTUCKET  BAR i 

CHAPTER  II. 

IN   AND    OUT    OVER   THE    BAR 12 

CHAPTER  III. 
FROM  THE  BAR  ROUND  GREAT  POINT 24 

CHAPTER  IV. 

FAIRLY  AT  SEA.  —  THE   FIRST  LOOKOUT.  —  INTRODUC 
TION 38 

CHAPTER  V. 
THE  WESTERN  ISLANDS.  —  "YARNS"  AND  ANECDOTES.     50 

CHAPTER  VI. 
THE  FIRST  WHALE 62 

CHAPTER  VII. 
"  CUTTING  IN" 73 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

BOILING.  —  CUTTING  THE  LINE.  —  DUTCH  COURAGE.  — 
"MAN  OVERBOARD  " 85 


VI  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  IX. 

PACK. 

"  GAMMING  "  WITH  A  "  HOMEWARD-BOUNDER  "........     98 

CHAPTER  X. 

WHALING   NEAR  THE  FALKLANDS.  —  DEATH  OF  MR. 
JOHNSON 112 

CHAPTER  XI. 

PROMOTION. —  "  COOPER'S  NOVEL'S."  —  THE  MATE  MOR 
ALIZES.  —  CAPE  HORN 125 

CHAPTER  XII. 

FISHING  AT  JUAN  FERNANDEZ.  —  FIGHT  WITH  AN  UGLY 
WHALE 139 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
TALCAHUANA 1 53 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
THE     BILL-FISH.  —  THE    MARQUESAS.  — A     PRISONER 

AMONG   THE     SAVAGES .     1 67 

CHAPTER  XV. 
ESCAPE  FROM  THE  SAVAGES.  — RECOVERY  OF  THE  BOAT. 

—  MAGICAL  EFFECTS  OF  LYNCH  LAW 181 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

THE     COOPER    "  ROMANCES  "  —  INCIDENTS.  —  BYRON'S 
ISLAND 197 

CHAPTER  XVII. 
KINGSMILL'S  GROUP. —  SINGULAR  WHALING  INCIDENT. 

—  HARD  AND  FAST.  —  A  PERILOUS  POSITION. 211 

CHAPTER  XVIII, 
OFF  TIIL  POCKS  AGAIN  —A  BAD  LEAK-  -ANECDOTES. 

—  THE  RUN  TO  THE  CAROLINE  ISLANDS 225 


CONTENTS.  Vll 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

PACK. 

STRONG'S  ISLAND 238 

CHAPTER  XX. 

ON  JAPAN.  —  ORMSBEE'S  PEAK.  —  WHALING  INCIDENTS. 
—  A  YANKEE  TRICK 253 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

RADACK  CHAIN.  —  WATERING  AT  OCEAN  ISLAND.  — 
INCIDENTS  ON  THE  RUN  TO  SYDNEY,  N.  S.  W....  267 

CHAPTER  XXII. 
SYDNEY.  —  UP  ANCHOR  FOR  HOME.  —  "  GAL  WAY  MIKE."  280 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

HOMEWARD.  —  THE  EPISODE  OF  GALWAY  MIKE.  —  CAPE 
HORN.  —  THE  LAST  WHALE 294 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

HOMEWARD.  The  Whale  Recognized  as  an  Old  Acquaint 
ance. —  Incidents  of  the  Run  Home.  —  Nantucket 
Again 307 


LEAVES 


FROM    THE 


ARETHUSA'S    LOG 


CHAPTER  I. 

FROM  PECK  SLIP  TO  NANTUCKET  BAR. 

44  T  T  TANTED — 500  able-bodied,  enterprising  young  men,  to 
VV  go  on  whaling  voyages  of  from  twelve  to  twenty  months' 
duration  in  first  class  ships.  All  clothing  and  other  necessaries 
furnished  on  the  credit  of  the  voyage.  To  coopers,  carpenters 
and  blacksmiths,  extra  inducements  offered." 

THIS  announcement,  on  a  gigantic  placard,  in  staring 
capitals,  arrested  my  attention,  and  brought  me  to  a 
stand,  as  I  was  strolling  along  South  Street,  near  Peck 
Slip.  I  had  just  attained  the  susceptible  age  of  eigh 
teen,  and  had  left  my  country  home  with  the  consent 
of  my.  parents,  to  visit  the  great  city  of  Gotham,  like 
a  modern  Gil  Bias,  in  quest  of  employment  and  ad 
ventures.  As  the  old  story-books  have  it,  I  had  come 
"  to  seek  my  fortune."  I  have  sought  it  ever  since, 
but  it  has  kept  ahead  of  me,  like  an  ignis  fatuus. 
Like  old  Joe  Garboard,  I  began  the  world  with  noth 
ing,  and  have  held  my  own  ever  since. 

I  had  always  a  predilection  for  the  sea,  and  had  cul- 


2  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

tivated  my  adventurous  propensities  by  the  study  of 
all  books  of  voyages  and  travels  that  I  had  access  to. 
All  the  wanderings  of  famous  navigators,  from  the 
days  of  Sinbad  down  to  the  present  era,  had  been  pe 
rused  with  delight,  and  I  had  always  affected  the  sailor, 
as  well  as  I  knew  how,  in  manner  and  dress.  I  had 
discovered,  since  I  arrived  in  the  city,  however,  that  I 
was  a  miserable  amateur  ;  and  not  a  ragged  boy  along 
the  piers  but  would  have  spotted  me  for  a  "  green 
one "  at  sight,  while  Jack  himself,  the  real  article, 
would  have  found  my  verdancy  really  refreshing  after 
a  long  cruise. 

Above  the  attractive  placard  to  which  I  have  alluded, 
in  the  form  of  a  hanging  sign  projecting  over  the 
sidewalk,  was  a  most  stirring  nautical  piece,  illustra 
ting  one  of  those  agreeable  little  episodes  which  diver 
sify  the  life  of  the  whaleman.  The  principal  figure  in 
the  foreground  of  this  masterpiece  of  art  was  a  huge 
sea  monster,  intended,  doubtless,  to  represent  some 
thing  "  very  like  a  whale,"  but  which,  in  truth,  bore 
rather  more  resemblance  to  a  magnified  codfish  with 
a  specific  gravity  something  less  than  that  of  a  cork, 
as  he  floated  on  the  water  instead  of  /;/  it.  Fragments 
of  a  devoted  whale-boat,  which  had  been  nearly  pulver 
ized  by  a  blow  of  his  tail,  filled  the  air,  and  rained 
back  in  showers  upon  the  unfortunate  leviathan,  at  the 
imminent  hazard,  as  it  seemed,  of  inflicting  serious 
splinter  wounds,  while  several  sailors,  apparently 
dressed  for  the  occasion  in  span  new  blue  and  red 
shirts,  cut  pirouettes  among  the  wreck  at  various  alti 
tudes  between  sky  and  water,  and  made  spread  eagles 


FROM  PECK  SLIP  TO  NANTUCKET  BAR.       3 

of  themselves  for  the  special  diversion  of  a  gaping  pub 
lic.  From  the  head  of  the  sea  monster  was  ejected  a 
stream  of  blood,  which  rose  in  a  solid  column  to  a 
height  but  little  exceeding  that  of  the  topmasts  of  the 
ship,  which  appeared  standing  under  all  sail,  in  fearful 
proximity  to  the  fast  boats,  and  having  no  apparent 
intention  of  starting  tack  or  sheet  to  avoid  a  collision. 
Hogarth's  famous  "  Perspective  "  was  quite  eclipsed 
by  this  effort. 

I  stood,  for  a  time,  regarding  this  picture  in  silent 
admiration,  and  especially  commiserating  the  situation 
of  one  luckless  mariner,  for  whom  the  fate  of  Jonah 
seemed  inevitable,  as  he  appeared  suspended  in  mid 
air,  directly  over  the  jaws  of  the  whale,  which  were 
widely  distended  in  his  agony. 

"  Now,"  said  I  to  myself,  "  why  wouldn't  this  be  the 
sort  of  cruise  for  me  ?  A  long  voyage,  full  of  adven 
ture  and  excitement.  The  very  thing.  I'll  stop  in 
here,  and  get  some  information  about  this  business." 

Following  the  direction  of  a  hand  painted  on  a  tin 
sign,  the  finger  of  which,  as  well  as  the  inscription,  in 
dicated  that  Ramsay's  shipping  office  was  "  up  stairs," 
I  entered  a  room  where  a  middle-aged  gentleman,  with 
a  florid  countenance,  evidently  the  great  Ramsay  him 
self,  was  seated  at  a  desk  fenced  in  by  a  railing,  while 
a  shabby  clerk,  who  looked  as  if  he  had  been  kept  up 
all  night,  hovered,  like  a  familiar  spirit,  near  his  elbow. 
Two  youths,  fresh  from  the  country  like  myself,  were 
negotiating  for  enlistment  with  the  elder  gentleman, 
who  was  all  smiles  and  affability,  and  who,  at  my  en 
trance,  elevated  his  eyebrows,  and  said  something, 


4  THE    LOG    OF   THE    AKETHUSA. 

sotto  voce,  to  the  sleepy  clerk,  whereat  the  latter 
smiled  knowingly,  and  then,  seeming  fatigued  by  the 
exertion,  relapsed  into  his  former  apathy. 

"  Take  a  seat,  sir,"  said  Mr.  Ramsay.  "  I'm  happy 
to  see  you,  sir  ;  and  the  fact  of  your  being  early  in  the 
day  argues  well  for  your  success  in  life.  I  presume 
you  would  like  to  try  a  pleasant  voyage,  to  see  the 
world,  and  make  some  money  at  the  same  time." 

"  Yes,  sir,"  said  I  ;  "  I  did  think  of  trying  a  sea 
voyage,  but  I  would  like  to  make  a  few  inquiries 
first." 

"  Quite  right,  sir,"  said  Mr.  Ramsay,  lighting  a 
cigar ;  "  quite  right.  '  Look  before  you  leap,'  as  the 
saying  is.  Have  a  cigar,  sir  ? "  at  the  same  time  ex 
tending  a  handful  of  cheap  sixes,  with  a  general  in 
vitation  to  the  company  present.  "  I  shall  be  happy 
to  afford  you  any  information  in  my  power,  sir.  I 
have  never  been  whaling  myself,  but  from  my  long 
experience  in  this  business,  and  my  extensive  acquaint 
ance  with  whalemen  and  shipowners,  I  may  say  that 
you  could  hardly  have  applied,  in  this  city,  to  a  better 
source  ;  and,  as  I  was  observing  to  these  two  young 
gentlemen  just  before  you  entered,  there  is  the  finest 
opening  just  at  this  time  that  I  have  ever  known.  In 
deed,  I  do  not  remember  any  period  since  I  have  been 
in  the  business  when  such  inducements  were  offered 
to  enterprising  young  men  as  now.  A  packet  leaves 
this  afternoon  for  Nantucket,  and  there  are  crews 
wanted  there  for  four  new  ships,  just  launched,  and  all 
to  be  commanded  by  experienced  captains.  There 
will  be  more  ships  fitted  this  year  than  any  previous 


FROM  PECK  SLIP  TO  NANTUCKET  BAR.       5 

one  ;  and,  owing  to  the  increased  demand  for  young 
men,  the  lays  are  uncommonly  high." 

"The  what,  sir?"  asked  one  of  the  country  youths. 

"  The  lays,  sir  ;  that  is  to  say,  the  shares.  You  will 
understand  that  in  this  business  no  one  is  paid  wages 
by  the  day  or  month,  but  each  receives  a  certain  part, 
or  lay,  as  it  is  called,  of  the  proceeds  of  the  cruise. 
By  this  arrangement,  you  will  see,  at  once,  that  every 
one,  from  the  captain  to  the  cabin  boy,  has  a  personal 
interest  in  the  success  of  the  voyage.  The  lay  is,  of 
course,  proportioned  to  his  rank  or  station  on  board, 
and  to  his  experience  in  the  business.  The  lays,  as 
I  before  observed,  are  high  this  season,  uncom 
monly  so." 

"  And  what  may  be  the  lay  of  a  new  hand — one  who 
has  never  been  by  water,"  I  asked. 

"  Well,  sir,  the  lays  of  green  hands  have  ranged,  in 
times  past,  from  a  two  hundredth  to  a  two  hundred 
and  fiftieth,  but  they  are  paying  now  a  hundred  and 
seventieth,  and  even  as  high  as  a  hundred  and  fiftieth. 
By  the  way,  have  you  any  mechanical  trade  ?  "  pursued 
the  shipping-master,  with  the  greatest  urbanity. 

"  Well — yes,  sir ;  I  have  served  some  time  at  the 
blacksmith's  trade,  though  I  can  hardly  call  myself  a 
finished  workman,"  I  answered. 

"  A  blacksmith  !  ah,  indeed  !  The  very  thing,  sir 
That  reminds  me  that  I  have  a  special  demand,  at 
this  time,  for  three  or  four  blacksmiths,  and  as  many 
carpenters.  As  to  your  being  a  finished  workman, 
that  is  not  at  all  essential,  sir.  If  you  can  botch  a 
little  and  do  an  indifferent  sort  of  job,  that  is  quite 


6  THE  LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

sufficient.  I  may  safely  promise  an  able-bodied  young 
man  like  you  with  some  knowledge  of  the  blacksmith's 
trade,  as  good  as  the  hundred  and  thirtieth.  That, 
however,  is  a  matter  to  be  arranged  with  the  agent  of 
the  ship  when  you  sign  the  articles.  I  shall  mention 
the  subject  to  my  correspondents,  Messrs.  Brooks  & 
Co.,  at  Nantucket,  and  they  will  use  their  influence 
for  you." 

"  The  voyage,  you  say,  will  not  be  more  than  twenty 
months,  sir?"  I  asked. 

"  Ye — no,  sir — that  is,  they  are  seldom  absent  beyond 
that  length  of  time,  and,  if  very  fortunate,  you  may 
finish  a  voyage  in  a  year.  Then  your  chances  of  pro 
motion  !  Consider,  sir — a  young  man  of  your  ability 
ought  certainly  to  command  a  third  mate's  berth  on 
the  second  voyage,  in  which  case,  of  course,  your  pay 
is  more  than  doubled  ;  and  so  on  each  successive  voy 
age  as  you  advance  still  higher  on  the  ladder.  That 
is,  of  course,  supposing  you  should  wish  to  follow  the 
business.  If  not,  why,  a  year  or  a  year  and  a  half  is 
not  much  at  your  time  of  life.  You  would  still  be 
young  enough  to  turn  your  attention  to  something 
else." 

"  How's  the  victuals  on  these  whaling  boats  ? "  in 
quired  one  of  the  verdant  youths. 

"  Excellent,  sir,"  returned  the  voluble  Mr.  Ramsay. 
"  I  have  reason  to  believe  there  are  no  ships  on  the 
ocean  where  the  living  is  so  good  as  in  whalers.  Ev  n 
the  luxuries  of  life  are  to  be  found  in  abundance.  Cows 
are  generally  kept  on  board,  so  that  the  supply  of  milk 
and  fresh  beef  scarcely  ever  fails." 


FROM  PECK  SLIP  TO  NANTUCKET  BAR.       / 

Here  the  sleepy  clerk  knocked  the  ashes  from  his 
cigar,  gave  another  knowing  smile,  and  distended  his 
cheek  with  his  tongue,  in  keen  enjoyment  of  the  game. 
This  action  was  not  lost  upon  me,  and,  inexperienced 
though  I  was,  I  had  already  begun  to  surmise  that  the 
statements  of  his  eloquent  employer  were  to  be  re 
ceived  cum  grano  sails.  Still,  making  due  allowance 
for  exaggeration,  I  thought  this  sort  of  voyage,  from 
its  very  nature,  full  of  excitement  and  adventure,  would 
suit  me  better  than  any  other. 

"  Do  you  furnish  the  outfit  of  clothes  here,  sir  ? "  I 
inquired. 

"  No,  sir,  "  answered  Mr.  Ramsay,  "  that  is  not  in 
my  line.  My  correspondents,  Messrs.  Brooks  &  Co., 
will  attend  to  that ;  and,  from  their  perfect  knowledge 
of  the  articles  required,  and  their  extensive  facilities, 
cannot  fail  to  give  you  satisfaction." 

The  sleepy  clerk  had  the  pleasure  of  registering  the 
names  of  all  three  of  us  on  the  list  of  recruits  to  go  on 
board  the  "  Lydia  Ann,"  and  at  four  o'clock  that  after 
noon,  I  found  myself,  in  company  with  a  score  or  more 
of  others,  on  board  the  old  sloop,  with  the  mainsail 
hoisted,  and  dropped  down  to  an  outside  berth ;  and, 
after  the  most  affectionate  farewells  and  hand-shaking 
from  Mr.  Ramsay  and  the  sleepy  clerk,  the  whole  party 
were  mustered  and  counted,  and  the  roll  being  found 
correct,  the  Lydia  Ann  slipped  the  only  fast  by  which 
she  rode  to  the  pier,  and  was  fairly  under  way  for 
Nantucket,  amid  the  shouts  and  hurrahs  of  her  passen 
gers,  who  seemed  to  have  bid  adieu  to  all  care  and 
sorrow,  and  to  consider  themselves  fairly  enrolled  in 
the  ranks  of  the  elect 


8  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

After  taking  our  last  looks  at  the  great  metropolis, 
I  found  ample  amusement  in  studying  human  nature, 
and  observing  the  peculiarities  of  my  several  compan 
ions,  who  were  a  motley  crowd,  composed  of  men  of 
every  stamp,  from  the  fresh  and  innocent  country  youth, 
like  myself,  who  had  just  left  his  mother  and  sisters, 
to  the  city  rowdy,  who  had  run  himself  "  hard  up  "  on 
a  spree,  and,  unable  longer  to  raise  the  wind,  had  ship 
ped  for  a  sea  voyage  as  a  last  resort.  It  was  surpris 
ing  to  note,  now  that  we  were  brought  together,  and 
all  bound  on  the  same  mission,  how  quickly  we  became 
acquainted  with  each  other,  and  how  quickly  all  dis 
tinctions  were  levelled.  Many  of  my  companions  were 
more  or  less  in  liquor  at  starting,  and  some  had 
brought  suspicious  bottles  with  them,  and  now  were 
clustered  in  groups  about  the  deck,  roaring  snatches 
of  songs,  breaking  out  into  boisterous  merriment,  and 
cracking  jokes  on  the  old  skipper,  who  only  shook 
his  head,  and  joined  in  the  laugh,  muttering : 

"  Hold  on,  my  lads,  till  I  get  you  out  off  Pint  Judy, 
with  a  good  stiff  breeze  and  chopping  sea  on  to  shake 
up  your  stomachs,  and  I'll  bet  some  of  you  will  laugh 
out  of  the  other  side  of  your  mouths." 

The  old  gentleman  was  not  at  all  averse  to  taking 
a  stout  pull  at  the  bottles  with  those  who  offered 
them  ;  and,  after  two  or  three  applications  of  this  sort, 
he  grew  communicative,  and  volunteered  much  in 
formation  for  our  special  behoof,  touching  the  business 
in  which  we  were  about  embarking.  Many  of  his 
statements  differed  widely  from  those  of  the  shipping- 
master,  which  is  not  strange  ;  for  it  is  well  known 


FROM  PECK  SLIP  TO  NANTUCKET  BAR.       9 

that  two  witnesses  are  seldom  found  to  agree  to  their 
accounts  of  the  same  matter. 

The  Lydia  Ann  was  an  old  time-worn  and  battered 
sloop,  which  ran  as  a  regular  transport  between  Nan- 
tucket  and  New  York,  having  no  accommodations 
for  any  considerable  number  of  passengers,  though 
she  had  carried  so  many  human  cargoes  to  the  same 
consignees,  all  bound  on  the  same  errand,  that  she 
had  acquired  the  pet  name  of  "  the  Slaver." 

When  night  came  on,  we  were  constrained  to  find 
lodgings  in  the  hold  as  best  we  could  ;  and,  selecting 
the  softest  spots  and  most  eligible  corners  among  the 
casks  and  boxes  which  composed  the  freight  list,  we 
passed  part  of  the  night  in  much  the  same  manner 
as  before.  But,  as  the  skipper  had  predicted,  the 
breeze  freshened  during  the  night,  and  the  old  sloop, 
feeling  the  benefit  of  it,  and  diving  smartly  into  a 
head  sea,  furnished  the  majority  of  us  employment 
in  casting  up  our  accounts,  and  admonished  us  that 
all  bodies,  not  excepting  the  solid  earth,  are  subject 
to  upheavings  when  shaken  to  their  centres.  Some 
of  us,  who  had  crawled  on  deck  to  get  the  fresh  air, 
furnished,  by  our  own  rueful  and  woe-begone  ap 
pearance,  rare  food  for  merriment  to  the  old  mate,  a 
veteran  of  nearly  the  same  date  as  his  commander, 
who  in  a  rough  pea-jacket  and  slouched  sou'wester, 
stood,  statue-like,  braced  up  against  the  tiller,  ap 
parently  as  immovable  as  the  rock  of  ages. 

"  Ah,  boys,"  said  the  jolly  old  salt,  "  so  the  Liddy 
Ann  is  breaking  you  in,  eh  ?  Well,  you've  got  to  go 
through  it,  all  of  ye,  and  it's  better  to  have  it  over 


IO  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

now,  when  you've  got  no  duty  to  attend  to,  than  to 
begin  it  in  the  Gulf  stream,  when  there'll  be,  maybe, 
topsails  to  reef,  and  a  slatting  jib  to  be  got  in  on  a 
slippery  boom." 

He  advised  us,  moreover,  to  try  the  experiment  of 
attaching  a  piece  of  fat  pork,  previously  dipped  in 
molasses,  to  a  string,  swallowing  the  precious  morsel 
and  pulling  it  up  again,  repeating  the  operation  as  of 
ten  as  the  symptoms  returned,  which  mode  of  proceed 
ing,  he  solemnly  assured  us,  had  been  proved  to  be  an 
invalua  >le  specific,  in  cases  of  this  kind,  as  could  be 
attested  by  the  experience  of  thousands  of  sufferers. 
The  victims  were  slow  to  avail  themselves  of  this 
information,  not  so  much  from  any  doubt  of  its  efficacy, 
as  from  sheer  inability  to  make  the  necessary  exertion 
to  prepare  the  medicine. 

The  utter  prostration  of  all  energy  which  attends 
sea-sickness  is  well  known  to  those  who  have  passed 
the  ordeal.  I  was  a  sufferer  with  the  rest,  but  not  to 
the  same  extent  as  many  others.  When  daylight 
broke,  I  was  on  deck,  and  stirring,  and  became  ac 
customed  to  the  Lydia  Ann's  antics  with  so  little 
difficulty  that  the  old  skipper  noticed  me  particularly  ; 
and  finding  I  was  the  only  one  who  could  do  full  jus 
tice  to  an  "  able-bodied  breakfast,"  he  complimented 
me  by  averring  his  belief  that  I  would  be  a  sailor  yet 
before  my  mother  would.  Which  prophecy  seemed 
in  a  fair  way  of  fulfilment  ;  for  I  gained  so  rapidly 
that  before  the  sloop  went  in  over  Nantucket  Bar,  I 
was  able  to  take  an  interest  in  all  I  saw  and  even  to 
lend  a  hand  about  decks.  I  was  rather  vain  of  the 


FROM  PECK  SLIP  TO  NANTUCKET  BAR.     II 

comparatively  easy  victory  which  my  stomach  had 
gained  over  old  Neptune's  medicine  chest,  and  lost 
no  opportunity  of  cracking  jokes  upon  others,  whose 
course  of  initiation  had  been  more  severe.  Some  of 
the  boys  who  came  over  in  the  Lydia  Ann  will  never 
forget  the  martyrdom  they  endured  from  this  intolera 
ble  malady,  which,  when  violent,  makes  even  life  and 
death  seem  a  matter  of  indifference,  and  not  the  least 
irritating  peculiarity  of  which  is  that  it  is  a  standing 
subject  for  joking  by  those  who  have  passed  through 
it,  and  that  even  the  very  pity  which  the  initiated 
traveller  bestows  upon  us  is  akin  to  ridicule. 


CHAPTER  II. 

IN    AND    OUT    OVER   THE    BAR. 

Two  whaleships  were  lyingat  anchor  outside  the  "  bar" 
as  the  Lydia  Ann  passed  in — one  lately  arrived  from  a 
long  voyage,  her.  rusty  sides  and  rough  bends  nearly 
naked  of  copper,  with  the  long  grass  clinging  to  the 
bare  sheathing;  her  stump  topmasts  and  general  half- 
dismantled  appearance  presenting  a  striking  contrast 
to  the  trim,  newly-painted  outward-bounder,  which  had 
just  completed  her  preparations  for  sea,  and,  with 
everything  aloft  in  its  place,  mainroyal  yard  crossed, 
and  a  full  quota  of  showy,  white-bottomed  boats  on 
the  cranes  and  overhead,  was  to  weigh  anchor  for  the 
Pacific  next  morning.  Loud  rose  the  cheerful,  meas 
ured  sound  of  the  hoisting  song  from  the  gang  on 
board  the  inward-bound  ship,  as  the  heavy  casks  of  oil 
were  seen  to  rise  slowly  from  her  hatchway,  and  were 
discharged  into  the  schooner  lashed  alongside  of  her 
to  receive  them,  while  another  lighter,  deeply  loaded, 
had  dropped  astern,  and  was  hoisting  her  mainsail. 

"  I  thought  the  '  Pandora '  had  sailed  before  this 
time,"  said  the  old  skipper,  as  we  passed  just  out  of  hail 
of  the  ships.  "  They  have  been  a  long  time  fitting  her 
for  sea.  I  wonder,"  said  he  to  his  mate,  "  who  that 


IN    AND    OUT   OVER   THE    BAR.  13 

is  that  has  got  in  since  we  left.  Get  the  glass,  and 
see  if  you  can  make  out  her  name  when  we  cross  her 
stern." 

The  mate  brought  an  old  battered  telescope  from  a 
elect  in  the  companionway,  and,  after  squinting  for 
some  time,  muttered  : 

"  P —  her  stern  is  so  rusty  that  hang  me  if  I  can  make 
out  the  letters — the  name  begins  with  a  P  ;  I  can  see 
that.  There's  a  T  in  it,  and  the  last  letter  looks  like 
an  H." 

"  Yes,  that's  all  right,"  said  the  skipper.  "  That's 
the  old  '  Plutarch.'  She  has  been  expected  some 
time,  and  has  had  a  long  passage  home  ;  but  she  is 
one  of  the  old  Anno  Dominy  ships,  and  sails  about  as 
fast  as  you  can  whip  a  toad  though  tar.  I  was  in  her 
two  v'y'ges  myself  in  my  young  days,  and  we  never 
could  drive  more  than  six  knot  out  of  her  in  a  gale  of 
wind.  She  seems  to  have  a  foul  bottom,  too.  But 
she  has  crawled  home  at  last,  and  she  has  brought  a 
good  load  of  ile,  too.  She  had  twenty-one  hund'ed  at 
last  accounts,  and  that  aint  to  be  sneezed  at,  now-a- 
days." 

"  No,  indeed,  it  aint,"  returned  his  partner.  "  But 
when  was  you  in  the  Plutarch  ?  Who  had  her  then  ?  " 

"  Old  Hosea  Coffin  had  her ;  that's  when  she  was 
new,  and  was  called  a  dandy  ship  at  that  time.  Then 
I  steered  a  boat  in  her  next  v'y'ge  with  'Bimelech 
Swain — you  knew  him  ?  " 

"  Yes,  I  remember  ;  that's  when  I  was  in  the  '  Viperv 
on  the  Brazeel  Banks." 

I  could  not  but  look  with  admiration  upon  these  old 


14  THE    LOG    OF   THE    ARETHUSA. 

veterans,  who  talked  about  long  voyages  round  Cape 
Horn  and  on  the  "  Banks  "  as  though  they  had  been 
mere  pleasure  trips  across  a  harbor  and  back,  or  any 
such  trifling  matter.  Two  or  three  years  in  these  old 
fellows'  lives  seemed  like  the  same  period  in  the 
history  of  nations,  occupying  but  a  line  or  two  of  the 
chronicler.  But  the  vessel  was  rapidly  drawing  in 
round  "  Brant  Point,"  and  all  my  comrades,  many  of 
whom  had  not  yet  fully  recovered  from  sea-sickness, 
had  mustered  on  deck  to  see  the  low,  sandy  island  and 
busy  little  town  of  Nantucket,  which  now  lay  fairly 
before  us.  Several  more  whaleships  were  lying  at 
the  wharves,  some  of  them  dismantled,  and  stripped 
to  a  girtline,  others  partly  rigged  for  sea,  and  two  or 
three  hove  down  for  coppering.  This  was  in  the  sum 
mer  of  1841,  when  Nantucket  may  be  said  to  have  been 
in  the  zenith  of  its  prosperity.  More  new  ships  were 
built  than  in  any  previous  season,  and  the  general 
impression  appeared  to  be  that  the  partisan  cries  ot 
"  two  dollars  a  day  and  roast  beef  to  the  laboring  man" 
were  to  be  literally  fulfilled,  and  that  the  price  of  oil 
was  to  reach  a  standard  positively  fabulous.  And  so 
it  did — fabulously  low,  as  every  poor  whaleman  can 
testify,  who  arrived  in  1842-3,  and  sold  his  sperm  oil 
for  fifty  or  sixty  cents  a  gallon. 

As  the  sloop  warped  in  alongside  the  wharf,  a  spruce 
young  man  jumped  on  deck,  and,  saluting  the  skipper, 
asked  him  when  he  left  New  York,  and,  in  the  same 
breath,  how  nany  men  he  had  brought.  "  Twenty- 
five,"  said  Lie  old  man.  And,  having  thus  satisfied 
himself  that  the  cargo  delivered  corresponded  with  the 


IN    AND    OUT    OVER   THE    BAR.  15 

invoice,  he  invited  us  all  to  come  up  to  "  the  store." 
Then,  mounting  into  a  one-horse  cart — a  sort  of 
green  box  on  two  wheels — which  stood  in  waiting,  he 
called  upon  us  to  "jump  up."  We  jumped  up  till  the 
box  was  full  of  us,  standing  in  solid  phalanx,  and  the 
rest  followed,  as  infantry  of  the  rear  guard ;  and  thus, 
the  admired  of  all  beholders,  we  proceeded  up  the 
central  or  "  Straight  Wharf,"  and  up  Main  Street  to 
the  store.  The  spruce  young  man  informed  us  that 
his  name  was  Richards,  and  that  he  was  connected 
with  the  establishment  as  a  sort  of  out-door  clerk. 

The  store  of  Messrs.  Brooks  &  Co.  fronted  directly 
on  the  square  or  grand  plaza  of  Nantucket.  They 
dealt  in  all  kinds  of  ready-made  clothing  and  dry  goods, 
infitting  as  well  as  outfitting  goods  ;  and  the  store 
was  a  grand  resort  and  rendezvous  of  seafaring  men. 
At  the  time  of  our  arrival,  it  was  enlivened  by  the 
presence  of  numerous  whalemen,  of  various  grades  in 
rank,  from  chief  mates  of  ships,  sedate,  dignified-look 
ing  men,  dressed  in  long  togs  in  neat  style,  who  sat 
smoking,  comparing  notes  about  matters  and  things, 
"  round  the  other  side  of  land,"  and  re-killing,  at  a 
safe  distance,  many  "  forty  -barrel  bulls,"  which  they 
had  years  ago  slaughtered,  at  imminent  peril  of  life 
and  limb,  down  to  overgrown  boys,  who  had  made  one 
voyage,  aspirants  for  boatsteerers'  berths,  who  wore 
fine  blue  round  jacKets  and  low-quartered  morocco 
pumps,  with  a  great  superabundance  of  ribbon,  as  was 
the  fashion  at  that  period,  carried  flaming  red  hand 
kerchiefs  either  awkwardly  in  their  hands  or  hanging 
half  out  at  their  jacket  pockets,  masticated  tobacco 


1 6  THE    LOG    OF   THE    ARETHUSA. 

in  prodigious  quantities,  and  in  various  ways  aped 
the  tar,  to  the  great  amusement  of  their  elders,  who 
passed  remarks  to  each  other  in  confidential  tones. 

"  Here  comes  young  Folger,  rolling  down  to  St. 
Helena,  eighteen  cloths  in  the  lower  studdingsail,  and 
no  change  out  of  a  dollar." 

"  What  ship  was  he  in  ? "  asked  another. 

"  In  that  plum  pudd'ner  that  got  in  last  week — what's 
her  name  ? " 

"  O,  that  old  brig  over  at  the  New  North  Wharf  ? 
The  « Sphynx.' " 

"  He  wants  a  bilge  pump  in  each  pocket  to  pump 
the  salt  out." 

"  Yes — Lot's  wife  never  was  half  as  salt  as  some  of 
these  boys." 

"  They'll  outgrow  that  after  they  have  made  two  or 
three  more  voyages,  and  got  the  feather-edge  rubbed 
off." 

"  Yes,  they'll  find  it  isn't  all  fun  to  come  and  go, 
'  happy  go  lucky,'  when  they  have  more  to  think  about. 
Well,  we've  all  had  our  thoughtless  days." 

The  last  speaker  had  lately  married  a  young  wife, 
and  was  to  sail  the  next  morning,  mate  of  the  Pan 
dora. 

"  Well,  Gardner,  your  time  is  getting  short,"  said 
his  next  neighbor,  with  a  careless  laugh,  slapping  him 
on  the  back.  "  I'm  sorry  for  you,  boy,  but  it  can't  be 
helped,  and  I  wish  you  a  good  voyage,"  continued  the 
rough  sympathizer,  a  powerful  young  man,  who  had 
just  arrived  second  mate  of  the  Plutarch,  and  had  not 
yet  begun  to  wear  the  bronze  off  his  face. 


IN    AND    OUT   OVER    THE    BAR.  I/ 

"  Never  mind,  Chase  ;  you  can  blow  for  a  short 
time,  but  you'll  be  travelling  the  same  road  soon." 

"  Not  this  winter,"  returned  Chase,  with  a  tri 
umphant  shake  of  the  head.  "  I'll  set  my  foot  down 
on  that." 

"  Don't  be  too  sure  of  that,"  said  Gardner.  "  I'll 
bet  you'll  be  out  again  this  fall." 

"  Not  I." 

"  Well,  I  expect  to  see  you  in  Talcahuano  in  the 
spring,  and  I'll  put  you  in  mind  of  this." 

"  If  you  see  me  there  as  soon  as  that,  I'll  stand 
treat." 

"  I  see  the  old  slaver  has  brought  a  lot  of  bran  new 
sailors  from  New  York  to-day.  I  suppose,  Gardner, 
you'll  have  the  training  of  some  of  these  young  fel 
lows,"  said  another. 

"  No,  not  this  lot ;  ours  are  all  on  board.  These 
are  to  go  in  the  Fortitude  and  the  Arethusa." 

"  Well,  Grafton's  going  in  the  Arethusa.  They'll 
all  find  their  right  places  there." 

"  There's  a  fellow  will  make  a  slashing  midship 
oarsman,"  said  one. 

"  Yes,  and  here's  another  for  a  bowman,"  replied 
his  neighbor,  with  a  glance  at  me,  as  I  stood  within 
ear  shot,  and  overheard  this  colloquy. 

I  had  no  chance  to  hear  more  at  present ;  for  the 
whole  party,  after  their  names  had  been  registered, 
were  handed  over  to  the  tender  mercies  of  the  board 
ing-house  keeper,  and  the  procession  moved  off,  in 
straggling  order,  "  down  under  the  bank  "  to  dinner. 

Mr.   Loftus,  the  boarding-master,  was   an  elderly 


1 8  THE    LOG    OF   THE    ARETHUSA. 

gentleman  of  pompous  appearance,  who  had  been 
whaling  himself  in  his  younger  days,  and  thought  him 
self  quite  an  oracle  in  his  way.  He  entertained  his 
boarders  with  many  thrilling  reminiscences  of  his 
youth,  interspersed  with  sage  advice  how  to  conduct 
ourselves  so  as  to  get  ahead,  and  rise  in  our  profession, 
as  he  himself  had  done,  and  regretted  that  ill  health 
had  prevented  him  from  following  it  up  until  he  got 
command  of  a  ship,  which  must  inevitably  have  been 
the  case  in  a  few  more  years.  He  informed  us  that 
the  majority  of  us  would  probably  be  shipped  the  next 
day  in  the  Arethusa,  and  we  might  consider  ourselves 
truly  fortunate  in  getting  this  opportunity,  as  the 
Arethusa  was  a  new  ship,  with  all  the  modern  improve 
ments,  and  a  crack  appointment,  so  that  we  might  look 
upon  the  voyage  as  already  made,  before  the  ship  left 
home.  Furthermore  the  ship  carried  three  maints' 
gall'nt  sails,  and  had  more  backstays  than  any  other 
ship  in  port,  which  fact,  he  said,  had  a  material  bearing 
on  the  success  of  the  cruise. 

All  this  produced  a  feeling  of  anxiety  in  the  minds 
of  the  newly  enlisted  to  be  chosen  on  the  roll  of  the 
Arethusa  rather  than  to  be  left  for  the  Fortitude  and 
other  less  desirable  ships. 

The  next  day  we  were  all  mustered  at  the  store, 
and  introduced  in  the  aggregate,  to  the  agent  of  the 
ship,  and  Captain  Upton,  the  future  commander,  a 
middle-sized  man,  all  bone  and  muscle,  with  keen 
eyes,  and  a  peculiar  stride  in  his  gait,  which  might 
admit  of  a  small  wheelbarrow  being  driven  Jptween 
his  legs  without  touching  either.  He  seemed  to  have 


IN    AND    OUT    OVER    THE    BAR.  IQ 

his  own  way  in  the  selection  of  his  crew,  the  agent 
leaving  the  matter  in  his  hands  ;  and  twelve  of  us 
having  been  called  out,  of  whom  I  was  nattered  to 
find  myself  one,  the  rest  were  left  for  Captain  Wyer, 
of  the  Fortitude,  who,  being  a  young  man,  just  enter 
ing  on  his  first  command,  was  fain  to  content  himself 
with  what  he  could  get  in  many  particulars,  where 
Captain  Upton  would  have  what  he  wanted.  We 
were  catechised,  in  brief,  concerning  our  nativity  and 
previous  occupation,  and  the  build  and  physical  points 
of  each  were  looked  to,  not  forgetting  the  eyes,  for  a 
sharp-sighted  man  was  a  jewel  in  the  estimation  of 
the  genuine  whaling  captain. 

A  formidable  document  lay  on  the  desk,  awaiting 
our  signatures,  and,  almost  before  I  knew  it,  I  found 
myself  entered  on  the  Arethusa's  articles,  with  the 
hundred  an  fiftieth,  as  blacksmith  and  green  hand. 
Our  outfits  of  "  clothing  and  other  necessaries  "  were 
put  into  our  chests  for  us  at  the  store  ;  and  most  of 
us  now  donned  some  articles  to  replace  such  of  our 
clothing  as  was  in  a  dilapidated  condition,  while  the 
best  garments  of  which  we  happened  to  stand  possessed 
were  still  retained  in  wear.  The  result  was  an  incon 
gruity  in  the  various  parts  of  our  attire,  which  occa 
sioned  much  merriment.  Thus,  one  wore  a  check 
shirt  under  the  shade  of  a  glossy  beaver  ;  another  a 
"  claw-hammer  "  or  dress-coat  over  bright  red  flannels  ; 
while  tarpaulin  hats  surmounted  with  white  shirts  and 
dickeys,  and  patent  leather  peeped  out  under  volumi 
nous  duck  trowsers.  The  whalemen  criticised  us  as 
**  half-Jack  half-gentlemen,"  as  we  took  a  stroll  down 


2O  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA 

the  busy  wharves,  to  look  at  the  shipping  generally, 
and  especially  to  inspect  the  noble  vessel  which  was 
to  be  our  future  home. 

We  wound  our  tortuous  way  down  through  a  laby 
rinth  of  old  anchors  and  trypots,  spars,  timber  and 
oil-casks,  now  diving  under  a  capstan  bar,  and  again 
making  a  detour  to  double  a  long  pair  of  trucks  or 
skids,  backed  up  at  a  tier  of  oil  to  parbuckle  its  load 
on.  We  all  fell  in  love  with  the  Arethusa  at  sight, 
which  might,  in  our  case,  be  termed  an  illustration  of 
"  love  after  marriage,"  seeing  that  our  names  were  al 
ready  on  her  papers.  She  was  indeed  a  fine  specimen 
of  naval  architecture,  and  her  model  was  much  admired 
at  that  time,  for  this  was  before  the  day  of  extreme 
clippers.  She  was  painted  with  the  bright  waist,  a 
style  more  in  vogue  then  than  now,  consisting  of  a 
broad  yellow  streak,  relieved  by  narrow  white  mould 
ing  or  ribbons.  She  appeared  to  justify  all  that  the 
boarding-master  had  said  of  her  ;  and,  in  the  simplicity 
of  our  hearts,  we  had  no  doubt  that  his  enumeration 
of  her  mainto'gall'nt-s'ls  and  backstays  was  perfectly 
correct. 

It  being  a  holiday  afternoon,  there  was  a  crowd  of 
boys  on  the  wharf,  who  appeared  to  me  to  be  quite  a 
distinctive  class  of  juveniles,  accustomed  to  consider 
themselves  as  predestined  mariners.  Their  fathers 
and  grandfathers  before  them  had  spent  the  whole 
period  of  their  lives  "  round  Cape  Horn  ;"  their  elder 
brothers  were  even  now  serving  their  apprenticeship 
in  the  same  manner,  and,  as  regarded  themselves,  it 
was  only  a  question  of  time  how  soon  they  should 


IN    AND    OUT    OVER   THE    BAR.  21 

start.  They  climbed  ratlines  like  monkeys — little  fel 
lows  of  ten  or  twelve  years — and  laid  out  on  the  yard- 
arms  with  the  most  perfect  nonchalance,  shouting  and 
laughing  at  our  awkward  attempts  to  perform  the 
same  feats.  They  ridiculed  us  as  "  greenies,"  and 
there  was  no  help  for  it  but  to  take  it  all  in  good  part, 
and  bear  with  their  boyish  impudence  as  philosophi 
cally  as  might  be.  Hostile  advances  were  useless, 
for  we  might  as  well  have  kicked  at  the  empty  air. 

We  certainly  could  not  complain  of  want  of  atten 
tion  during  our  stay  among  these  plain-hearted  people. 
We  could  hardly  turn  a  corner  but  we  were  saluted 
with  the  war-cry  of  some  of  these  embryo  circumnavi 
gators.  "  See  the  greenies,  come  to  go  ileing ;  "  while 
the  smiles  of  beauty  were  extorted  by  our  amphibious 
costumes  wherever  we  strolled  about  town. 

I  understood  that  two  of  the  boys  were  going  with 
us  in  the  ship.  Wishing  to  know  something  of  my 
future  shipmates,  I  made  inquiry  of  the  landlord's 
daughter.  Of  course  she  knew  them  both.  One  was 
Kelly's  son  who  lived  away  in  Egypt,  and  the  other 
was  Obed  B. 

" And  who  is  Obed  Bee?"  I  asked. 

"  Why,  he's  a  second  cousin  of  ours." 

"  And  does  Mr.  Bee  live  in  Egypt,  too  ? ' 

"  Who  ?  "  she  asked,  with  surprise. 

"  Why,  Mr.  Bee,  Obed's  father,"  said  I  innocently. 

"  Mr.  Hoeg,  you  mean,"  said  she,  as  soon  as  she 
could  suppress  her  laughter  so  as  to  speak.  "  I  for 
got  to  tell  you  that  his  name  was  Obed  B.  Hoeg.  No, 
he  don't  live  in  Egypt ;  he  lives  over  in  Guinea." 


22  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

I  was  more  and  more  mystified  ;  I  thought  of  Led- 
yard  and  Mungo  Park,  and  pursued  my  African  re 
searches  by  inquiring : 

"  What  part  of  the  world  is  this  where  you  live- 
Nubia  or  Abyssinia  ? " 

"  Neither,"  answered  the  young  lady,  now  fairly 
screaming  with  laughter.  "  Why  this  is  Newtown" 

"  Indeed  !"  said  I.  "  And  have  you  an  '  Oldtown/ 
too  ? " 

"  Not  in  Nantucket,"  she  replied  ;  "  that's  on  the 
Vineyard." 

I  did  not  learn,  till  long  afterwards,  that  the  name 
was  universally  used  among  the  Nantucketers  for  Ed- 
gartown. 

But  our  stay  in  this  quaint  old  town  was  short,  in 
deed,  for  the  next  afternoon  we  all  reported  ourselves 
on  board,  under  the  fatherly  care  and  escort  of  Messrs. 
Brooks  and  Richards ;  and  the  Arethusa,  with  only 
topmasts  aloft,  and  topsail  yards  crossed,  dropped  out 
from  the  wharf,  in  tow  of  the  "  Telegraph  "  steamer, 
for  her  station  outside  of  the  bar,  there  to  complete 
rigging  and  loading  for  sea.  She  was  at  this  time  in 
charge  of  a  pilot,  and  a  superannuated  whaling  captain, 
who,  having  outlived  active  service,  now  found  employ 
ment  as  chief  stevedore  and  temporary  captain,  in  cases 
where  the  regular  officers  preferred  to  pay  for  "  lay 
days,"  and  remain  with  their  friends  till  the  ship  was 
quite  ready  for  sea. 

Directly  on  getting  clear  of  the  wharf,  we  poor  be 
wildered  green  hands,  whose  senses  had  gone  wool 
gathering  amid  the  confusion  of  unintelligible  orders 


IN    AND    OUT    OVER    THE    BAR.  23 

connected  with  "  hooking  on,"  were  set  to  work  to  heel 
the  ship  by  rousing  the  chain  cables  and  other  ponder 
ous  articles  all  on  one  side,  in  order  to  lessen  her 
draught  of  water ;  and  this  being  accomplished,  the 
ship,  after  rubbing  for  a  few  minutes  on  the  flats,  went 
over  clear,  and  about  dark  came  to,  with  both  anchors 
ahead,  in  the  berth  vacated  by  the  Pandora  which  had 
gone  to  sea  the  day  before. 


CHAPTER  III. 

FROM  THE  BAR  ROUND  GREAT  POINT. 

WHEN  the  ship  was  righted,  and  all  was  made  snug 
for  the  night,  we  proceeded  to  arrange  the  chaotic 
mass  of  sea-chests,  bedding,  kegs  of  oil  soap,  and 
miscellaneous  sea-stores,  and  to  perform  the  apparently 
impossible  task  of  condensing  sixteen  men,  with  all 
their  real  and  personal  estate,  into  a  little  triangular 
space,  called  (by  courtesy)  the  forecastle,  so  as  to  leave 
standing  and  dancing  room  at  the  foot  of  the  ladder. 
This  problem,  however  knotty  it  might  seem  to  the 
uninitiated,  was  successfully  solved,  under  the  superin 
tendence  of  the  four  "  salts "  who  had  been  to  sea 
before,  two  of  whom  were  Portuguese  from  the  Azores, 
one  a  gigantic  negro  who  had  been  three  voyages  in 
the  same  employ,  and  the  fourth  a  white  American  of 
some  little  intelligence — one  of  those  sea-lawyers  or 
"  clock-setters,"  who  are  to  be  found  in  all  sorts  of 
ships,  and  who  make  more  mischief  then  can  well  be 
imagined  by  people  not  conversant  with  matters  of 
this  sort.  The  stowage  being  completed,  each  one 
fitted  up  his  own  "  bunk,"  the  four  veterans  having, 
of  course,  appropriated  the  choice  ones  by  marking 
them  with  their  own  hieroglyphics  before  the  ship  left 


FROM  THE  BAR  ROUND  GREAT  POINT.      25 

the  wharf.  Supper  was  then  passed  down,  and  a  smart 
show  of  new  tin -ware  brought  into  requisition.  Old 
Jeff  swore  at  the  tea,  called  it  "  frightened  water  "  (it 
did  certainly  appear  to  have  been  mixed  on  homoeopathy 
principles),  and  avowed  his  determination  to  have  his 
brother  African,  the  cook,  over  the  windlass  end  before 
he  had  been  a  week  in  blue  water,  unless  a  decided 
improvement  should  be  observed  in  this  respect.  In 
'vhich  threat  he  was  ably  seconded  by  Burley,  the  sea- 
lawyer,  and  the  two  Ghees,  we  green  hands  merely 
eating  with  eyes  wide  open,  not  yet  daring  to  advance 
our  opinions. 

The  remains  of  the  banquet  cleared  away,  most  of 
us  lighted  our  "  half-Spanish  "  outfit  cigars,  but  Old 
Jeff,  disdaining  such  flummeries,  produced  his  approved 
narcotic  solace,  in  the  shape  of  a  well-worn  and  black 
ened  "  chunk,"  which  being  duly  loaded  and  set  on  fire, 
he  settled  himself  in  a  sort  of  Sir  Oracle  attitude,  and 
prepared  to  give  the  attentive  novices  the  benefit  of 
his  long  experience. 

"  Now,  boys,"  said  Jeff,  between  the  puffs,  "  you'll 
find  you've  got  to  toe  the  mark  here.  Our  old  man's 
a  hard  one,  I  can  tell  ye,  for  I've  sailed  with  him 
afore.  /  can  get  along  well  enough  with  him,  'cause 
I  know  him,  and  he  knows  me,  too,  like  a  book.  I 
haven't  sailed  ten  years  with  him  for  nothing.  Why, 
bless  your  souls,  he  wouldn't  know  how  to  get  under 
way  without  me."  This  was  one  of  Jeff's  delusions — 
that  he  considered  himself  a  necessary  fixture  or  part 
of  the  ship.  "  He's  a  hard  one,"  he  continued,  "  and 
you  lads  will  have  to  stand  round  when  he  gets  among 


26  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

ye.  He  wont  trouble  me,  you  know/  cause  /know 
my  duty,  chock  to  the  handle  ;  but  he's  down  on  any 
man  that  don't  know  his  duty." 

"  But,  surely,"  I  ventured  to  say,  "  he  cannot  be  so 
unreasonable  as  to  expect  a  green  hand  to  know  a 
seaman's  duty  by  intuition.  We  don't  profess  to 
know  anything ;  we  come  our  first  voyage  to  learn, 
and  if  we  show  ourselves  willing  to  learn,  we  do  all 
that  can  be  reasonably  expected  of  us." 

"  I  don't  know  nothing  about  your  inter-ition,"  re 
turned  Old  Jeff,  showing  the  whites  of  his  eyes  to  a 
frightful  extent.  "  That's  further  into  the  booktion- 
ary  that  ever  I  overhauled.  But  I  know  this  old  man, 
and  it's  no  use  for  a  lad  like  you  to  argy  about  things 
that  you  don't  understand.  If  you  and  me  was  going 
to  talk  in  'long-shore  company,  now,  I  s'pose  I'd  have 
to  strike  my  flag,  'cause  you  could  launch  some  three- 
deckers,  like  that  one  just  now  ;  but  here,  you  know, 
I'm  to  home.  You  just  hoM  on  a  bit ;  he'll  let  you 
know  who's  who,  when  he  gets  you  off  soundin's  ! " 

"  I  aint  afraid  he'll  do  me  anything,"  said  the  sea- 
lawyer,  Burley,  his  voice  coming  with  a  sepulchral 
sound  from  the  depths  of  the  bunk,  where  he  was 
already  stretched  at  full  length.  "/  don't  allow  any 
live  man  to  do  me  anything.  I've  been  in  all  sorts  of 
ships,  men-of-war,  merchantmen,  and — well,  I  wont 
say  what  else.  But  I  always  stood  up  for  my  rights." 

"  That's  all  well  enough,  you  know,"  replied  the 
negro,  speaking  with  less  assumption  of  superiority 
now  that  he  was  addressing  a  man  of  experience. 
"That's  all  well  enough  to  stand  up,  if  all  hands  would 


FROM  THE  BAR  ROUND  GREAT  POINT.      2/ 

hang  together  standin'  up" — (quite  unconscious  of 
the  bull,  of  course).  "  But  they  wont,  'cause  they 
don't  know  their  duty.  Now,  you  see,  you  and  me's 
got  to  do  'bout  all  the  duty  here — " 

"  What  you  talk  about  ? "  said  one  of  the  two 
Ghees,  a  swarthy,  big-whiskered  fellow,  with  that  rest 
less  eye  so  common  among  his  countrymen.  "  What 
you  talk  about — do  all  dutee  ?  "  I  no  want  you  do 
my  work.  S'pose  you  do  your  own  work,  me  all 
e'  same." 

"  Ah,  well  !  I  don't  mean  nothin'  'bout  you  and 
Antone,  of  course  !  "  said  Jeff,  turning  nearly  white  at 
the  interruptions.  "  I  s'pose  you  two  can  do  your 
duty  well  enough.  What  I  mean  to  say  is,"  thus  in 
geniously  shifting  his  ground,  "  there'll  be  only  two  of 
us  in  each  watch  to  do  all  the  duty.  '  The  doctor  '  he 
don't  count  nobody,  'cause  he  don't  stand  watch,  and 
he's  got  enough  to  do  to  look  after  his  galley.  Now, 
when  I  first  went  a  whaling,  they  used  to  have  some 
men  aboard  of  a  ship  ;  but  now-a  days  they  send  them 
out  filled  with  a  lot  of  children.  I  expect  if  I  go  two 
or  three  voyages  more,  I'll  see 'em  bring  their  mothers 
out  with  'em.  I  don't  know,  for  my  part,  what  they 
ship  such  spindle-legged  boys  for  ! " 

"  I  do  !  "  shouted  the  clock-setter,  from  the  recesses 
of  the  bunk.  "  Because  they  can  do  just  what  they 
like  with  'em,  and  they  don't  know  their  rights.  If 
they  were  to  ship  a  whole  crew  of  old  hands  that  knew 
their  rights  and  stood  up  for  them,  they'd  get  brought 
up  with  a  round-turn." 

"  R-r-r-ights  !  "    muttered  Manoel  the    Portuguese 


28  THE    LOG   OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

"  What  that  you  talk  'bout  r-r-rights  ?  What  lor  you 
begin  gr-r-owl  now,  no  got  ship  out  sea  yet  ?  Time 
enough  gr-r-o\vl,  s'pose  old  man  no  do  r-r-right  by-'m- 

by." 

"  But  it's  always  well  enough  to  have  these  things 
understood  in  the  beginning,"  insisted  Burley.  "  I  want 
a  man  to  use  me  like  a  man,  and  I  mean  he  shall,  too. 
I  don't  know  what  you  Dagos  mean  to  do,  but  Fll  have 
my  rights." 

"  R-r-rights !  "  echoed  Manoel,  with  infinite  con 
tempt.  "  All  'e  time  r-r-rights  !  " 

"  I  tink  s'pose  have  row  'board  dis  ship — you  no  do 
more's  'nothcr  mans,"  said  the  little  Portuguese,  An- 
tonc,  with  that  quick  perception  of  character,  which, 
in  many  of  his  class,  seems  to  supply  the  place  of  both 
theoretical  knowledge  and  worldly  experience. 

"  Well,  you'll  sac,"  returned  the  sea-lawyer.  "  Time 
will  show.  I  sha'n't  ask  any  Dago  to  tell  me  what  to 
do." 

"  Dago  no  tell  you,  s'pose  you  ask,"  answered  the 
quiet  little  Portuguese,  sarcastically. 

He  had  already  conceived  a  disgust  for  one,  at  least, 
of  his  shipmates.  Though  having  no  desire,  at  pres 
ent,  to  quarrel  with  him,  he  took  in  good  part  the 
epithet  of  "  Dago,"  which  Burley  had  always  at  his 
tongue's  end. 

"Well,"  said  I,  "I  shall  not  believe  that  the  cap 
tain—" 

"  Who's  the  captain  ?  "  interrupted  Old  Jeff. 

"  Why,  Captain  Upton." 

"  O  !  the  old  man  you  mean.     If  you  was  talking 


FROM  THE  BAR  ROUND  GREAT  POINT.      2g 

about  the  skipper  of  another  ship,  it  might  do  to  say 
the  cap'n,  but  ours  is  always  the  old  man — mind  that." 

"  Very  well — the  old  man,  then,"  I  resumed.  "  I 
shall  not  believe  that  he  will  misuse  or  ill-use  a  man 
for  not  knowing  what  he  can't  be  expected  to  know 
without  some  practice  and  experience.  It's  an  old 
saying  that  the  devil  is  not  so  black  as  he  is  painted  ; 
and  the  only  way  for  us  new  hands  is  to  go  to  work 
cheerfully,  and  try  to  learn  our  duty.  I'm  sure  I  am 
willing  to  learn,  and  would  be  obliged  to  any  one  who 
would  teach  or  help  me." 

This  view  of  the  matter,  and  my  expression  of  it, 
at  once  found  an  echo  from  all  the  other  youngsters, 
while,  at  the  same  time,  it  secured  for  me  the  better 
opinion  of  Old  Jeff  himself ;  who,  though  a  notorious 
growler,  was  not  a  bad-hearted  man  in  the  main.  In 
deed,  this  negro  was  a  specimen  of  a  class  which  ever) 
seaman  will  recognize  at  once,  who  growl  rather  froi* 
confirmed  habit  than  from  any  evil  motive  ;  and  noth 
ing  could  be  further  from  his  mind  than  to  be  the  in 
tentional  cause  of  troable  on  board  any  ship  in  which 
he  served.  Not  so  with  Burley,  whom  I  set  down  at 
once  as  a  man  to  be  instinctively  avoided  and  distrust 
ed.  Growling,  with  Old  Jeff,  was  a  weakness,  and, 
from  long  indulgence  in  the  practice  had  become,  as 
it  were,  an  essential  part  of  his  existence  ;  but  the  sea- 
lawyer  was  a  deliberate  mischief-maker.  In  one  re 
spect,  as  I  afterwards  discovered,  they  were  much  on 
a  par,  being  both  arrant  cowards  when  put  to  the  test. 
The  cook  now  made  his  appearance  down  the  ladder 
— a  merry,  simple-hearted  African,  of  a  shining  bottle- 


30  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

green  complexion,  between  whom  and  Old  Jeff  a  harm 
less  sort  of  skirmishing  feud  existed,  they  having 
sailed  together  on  the  previous  voyage  with  Captain 
Upton,  and  contracted  a  habit  of  cracking  coarse  jokes 
u  jon  each  other  to  such  an  extent  that  a  stranger 

*  '        O 

might  have  supposed  them  to  be  in  a  towering  rage  at 
times,  when  they  were  in  reality  fast  friends. 

"Halloo,  Jeff,  aint  you  turned  in  yet?"  said  the 
cook,  showing  his  ivory  from  ear  to  ear.  "  Here  you 
be,  boys ;  all  de  bunks  taken  up,  and  I's  left  like  dey 
say  de  Son  o'  Man  in  de  Scriptur',  nowhere  to  lay  my 
head.  De  old  man  says  he's  going  to  have  an  extra 
bunk  put  up  for  me  in  de  steerage.  S'pose  he  wont 
do  it  till  after  we  get  out  to  sea." 

"  Take  your  black  mug  out  of  this  !  "  thundered 
Old  Jeff;  who  was  stripping  off  preparatory  to  retiring 
for  the  night.  "You  make  the  fo'castle  so  dark  a 
man  can't  see  to  turn  in.  You'll  put  the  lights  out 
if  you  stay  here  five  minutes." 

"  Now  don't  trouble  yourself  to  get  in  a  puncheon 
when  a  hogshead's  big  enough  to  hold  ye,"  retorted 
the  "  doctor  "  in  a  tantalizing  way.  "  Some  people 
might  think  you's  dangerous,  if  dey  didn't  know  ye 
as  well  as  I  do.  You  can't  frighten  Kentucky  Sam, 
you  know.  Lord  sakes!  You  might  run  loose  till 
kingdom  come,  'thout  any  muzzle;  you  wouldn't  bite 
nobody.  Might  bark  some,  though." 

"  I'll  bark  your  crooked  shins  for  you,  if  you  don't 
shut  up.  I'm  goin'  to  turn  in  ;  we  shall  have  two 
lighters  alongside  to-morrow  morning  and  Uncle  Brock 
will  be  turning  us  to,  as  soon  as  he  can  see  daylight 
through  a  ladder." 


FROM  THE  BAR  ROUND  GREAT  POINT.      3! 

"  Well,  now,  don't  be  flyin'  off  de  handle,  altogedder," 
said  the  cook  with  provoking  coolness,  "  'cos  I's  goin' 
to  turn  in  myself,  soon's  I  fix  up  a  bed  on  dese  two 
donkeys."  ( Sea  chests.) 

"  I'll  settle  your  hash  for  you  to-morrow,"  roared  Jeff, 
extending  his  herculean  fist  from  the  bunk,  and  shak 
ing  it  apparently  in  a  state  of  great  excitement. 

"  All  right.  Call  at  my  office  any  time  before  din 
ner.  Sha'n't  have  no  Jiash  to  settle  tho'.  'Taint  hash 
day  to-morrow,  anyhow." 

By  this  time  the  sable  functionary  was  stretched  at 
his  ease  on  his  temporary  shake  down,  and  the  sparr 
ing  ended  for  the  night.  Some  of  the  boys  were  already 
snoring  off  the  fatigues  of  the  day,  and  the  rest  were 
making  a  movement  bedward ;  so  I  had  leisure  to  re 
flect  a  little  upon  the  sudden  change  in  my  situation 
and  the  new  and  strange  society  into  which  I  was 
thrown.  Yet  though  my  meditations  kept  me  wake 
ful  for  some  time,  they  v/ere  by  no  means  of  a  despond 
ent  cast.  I  was  on  board  a  first-rate  ship,  new  and 
stanch,  and  as  I  had  every  reason  to  believe,  well  ap 
pointed  for  a  successful  voyage  ;  and  though  I  had  al 
ready  found  out  that  the  chances  were  in  favor  o£ 
three  years'  absence  instead  of  one  (the  statements  of 
the  polite  Mr.  Ramsay  to  the  contrary  notwithstand 
ing),  even  this  did  not  deter  me  from  following  my 
bent.  I  should  see  much  of  the  Pacific  side  of  the 
world  in  that  length  of  time,  would  so  conduct  myself 
as  to  ensure  promotion,  and  my  calculations  as  well  as 
my  observation  at  Nan  tucket,  had  satisfied  me  that  the 
business  must  prove  quite  lucrative  to  captains  and 


32  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

officers  who  could  command  high  lays.  As  for  my 
shipmates  they  were  probably  an  average  of  rough 
men,  and  I  could  soon  adapt  myself  to  their  humors. 

I  fell  asleep,  dreamed  of  piles  of  gold  doubloons,  all 
besmeared  with  whale  oil,  but  shining  the  brighter 
for  it,  and  was  roused  at  the  first  peep  of  dawn  by  the 
stentorian  voice  of  Uncle  Brock  exhorting  us  to 
"  muster  up  and  get  the  lighter  alongside."  Old  Jeff 
brought  his  immense  flat  feet  from  his  bunk  to  the 
deck  with  a  bound,  calling  to  us  youngsters  to  "  show 
a  leg!"  and  also  administering  a  smart  kick  to  his 
ebony  friend  the  cook,  by  way  of  a  gentle  hint  to 
"  bear  a  hand  and  get  the  grub  under  way."  Burley, 
to  support  consistently  his  character  as  an  old  man- 
of-wars  man,  asserted  his  "  rights  "  by  standing  three 
or  four  calls. 

The  first  sound  that  greeted  my  ears,  as  I  emerged 
from  the  scuttle,  was  an  invocation  from  the  leathern 
lungs  of  the  skipper  of  the  lighter.  "  Arethusa  aho-o- 
oy  !  Rouse  and  bitt,  you  youngsters  !  I  know  you've 
got  strong  constitutions.  You  can  stand  more  sleep 
than  a  polar  bear  in  winter  time !  Get  your  lines  ready. 
I'm  coming  alongsi-i-de !  "  and  the  gruff  response  of  old 
Captain  Brock  mounted  on  the  rail.  "  What  the  devil 
ails  you,  Uncle  Dan  ?  You've  turned  out  wrong  end 
foremost !  That  polar  bear  of  yours  has  got  a  sore 
head  by  the  way  he  growls !  You  talk  about  sleep 
ing  !  Why,  anybody  knows  that  you  can  sleep  twen 
ty-two  hours  out  of  twenty-four,  and  then  d — n  the 
dogwatch." 

But  the  war  of  words  between  these  old  salts  was 


FROM  THE  BAR  ROUND  GREAT  POINT,       33 

quite  as  harmless  as  that  of  the  two  black  shipmates ; 
and  the  sloop  being  soon  lashed  alongside,  the  noisy 
old  skipper  came  on  board  the  ship  to  breakfast.  The 
hands  were  then  turned  to  again,  and  the  work  of 
taking  in  stores  and  provisions,  and  filling  salt-water 
ballast  in  the  ground  tier  went  briskly  on.  I  was 
selected,  with  one  other  green  hand,  to  work  in  the 
hold  under  the  direction  of  another  old  whaleman, 
who  filled  the  second  mate's  place  pro  tempore,  and 
the  boat-steerers,  two  of  whom  were  promising  young 
men,  natives  of  the  island,  and  the  third,  or  captain's 
boat-steerer,  was  a  mulatto,  who  was  ex-officio,  third 
mate,  and  had  the  handle  to  his  name,  being  address 
ed  as  Mr.  Johnson.  These  worthies  all  messed  in 
the  cabin,  as  well  as  the  cooper,  who  had  not  yet  come 
on  board.  There  were  no  bunks  in  the  steerage ; 
the  Arethusa  being,  in  this  respect,  an  exception  to 
the  generality  of  ships  at  that  time.  But  it  was  a 
favorite  expression  with  Captain  Upton,  "  that  he 
had  but  two  ends  to  his  ship,  and  wanted  every  man 
to  keep  in  his  own  end."  I  succeeded  so  well  in  sat 
isfying  the  petty  officers,  that,  before  we  had  finished 
loading  the  ship,  they  were  all  agreed  that  it  was  ex 
pedient  to  retain  me  as  one  of  the  regular  "  hold 
gang,"  provided  no  objection  should  be  raised  by 
those  higher  in  authority. 

The  quantity  of  stores  put  on  board  a  whale-ship, 
for  a  long  voyage,  would  astonish  any  one  not  ac 
quainted  with  the  business.  A  ship  is  literally  cram 
med  full  when  she  sails,  and  one  is  tempted  to  ask, 
"  Where  is  the  oil  to  be  put  when  we  get  it  ?  "  Every 

3 


34  THE    LOG    OF   THE    ARETHUSA 

cranny  and  crevice  is  filled  with  wood  or  lumber  of 
some  sort,  and  to  add  to  the  puzzle,  the  ship  carries 
from  a  thousand  to  fifteen  hundred  barrels  or  casks  in 
the  form  of  shooks,  or  packed  bundles  of  staves,  which, 
in  the  event  of  a  successful  voyage,  are  all,  of  course, 
to  be  set  up,  filled  with  oil  and  stowed  away.  But,  as 
the  gradual  consumption  of  provisions  and  stores  keeps 
pace  with  the  gradual  accumulation  of  oil,  and  as  some 
space  is  gained  in  restovving,  each  time,  it  is  managed, 
somehow,  and  a  whale-ship  is  always  full,  or  nearly  so, 
all  the  voyage.  Still  it  seems,  in  some  sort,  a  mys 
tery,  even  to  old  whalemen  themselves. 

In  about  ten  days  the  stowage  was  completed,  the 
topgallant-masts  and  yards  sent  aloft,  in  which  pro 
cess  we  boys  found  opportunity  to  display  our  agility 
in  fetching  and  carrying,  as  well  as  to  acquire  some 
knowledge  of  seamanship,  and  to  unravel  other  puz 
zling  questions  as  to  "  how  those  long  poles  were  to 
be  put  up  so  high  ? "  and  "  what  kept  them  there 
when  up  ? "  the  spare  sails,  boats,  etc.,  received  on 
board,  and  the  ship  reported  ready  for  a  start.  Mr. 
Richards,  the  out-door  agent  of  Messrs.  Brooks  &  Co., 
had  never  relaxed  his  fatherly  vigilance,  visting  his 
protege's  every  day,  praising  and  encouraging  us,  and 
prophesying  a  short  voyage  and  "  greasy  luck"  to  the 
Arethusa. 

The  day  of  departure  arrived,  with  a  fair  wind  and 
plenty  of  it ;  the  last  boats  came  alongside  at  three 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  bringing  the  captain  and 
officers,  with  their  luggage,  and  the  agent  of  the  ship, 
with  several  other  friends,  who  had  come  to  "  see  us 


FROM  THE  BAR  ROUND  GREAT  POINT.      35 

off  "  and  return  in  the  pilot-boat ;  and  who,  of  course, 
burst  into  enthusiastic  praises  of  the  new  ship,  and 
the  arrangement  of  all  on  board,  protesting  that  it 
almost  made  them  wish  they  were  going  themselves. 
The  windlass  was  soon  after  manned ;  the  topsails 
loosed  (not  exactly  in  man-of-war  style,  with  a  simul 
taneous  fall),  green  hands  were  hurried  here  and  there, 
ropes  pointed  out  to  them  and  put  into  their  hands ; 
the  anchors  slowly  but  steadily  rose  to  the  bows  ;  and, 
by  sunrise,  the  gallant  Arethusa,  feeling  the  impulse 
of  the  fresh  breeze,  was  fairly  underway,  and  her 
course  shaped  to  clear  Great  Point. 

I  had  anticipated  another  course  of  martyrdom 
from  sea-sickness  ;  but  I  soon  found  that  the  gallant 
Lydia  Ann  had  broken  me  in  completely,  and  I  was 
destined  to  surfer  no  more  from  that  intolerable  mal 
ady.  It  was  a  great  relief  to  feel  that  my  stomach 
had  gained  the  victory  in  the  conflict  with  old  Nep 
tune's  medicine  chest.  There  was  something  exhil 
arating  in  the  sensation  of  feeling  the  lively  ship 
springing  under  my  feet,  and  driving  onward  under 
the  impulse  of  her  distended  wings  ;  in  looking  back 
at  the  low,  receding  island,  the  cradle  whence  had 
issued  so  many  stout  hearts  and  strong  arms  to  vex 
every  sea  with  their  fisheries,  and  feeling  that  I,  too, 
was  now  embarking  in  this  adventurous  and  roman 
tic  business ;  and  in  observing  how  Captain  Upton, 
with  his  mate  and  the  owner,  grouped  together  on  the 
quarter-deck,  watched  the  behavior  and  movements 
of  the  new  vessel,  from  time  to  time  commenting,  as 
they  found  occasion  for  so  doing,  and  comparing  her 


36  THE    LOG    OF   THE    ARETHUSA. 

qualities  and  merits  with  those  of  other  timeworn  and 
well-tried  ships.  I  myself  began  to  feel  a  little  of  that 
pride  in  my  floating  home  springing  up  within  me, 
which  every  seaman  feels  for  his  vessel.  Then,  as  I 
looked  again  astern,  at  the  dim  outline  of  Nantucket, 
fast  sinking  towards  the  horizon,  my  thoughts  revert 
ed  to  my  pleasant  country  home,  to  my  parents  and 
my  much  loved  sister  left  there,  and  a  prayer  went 
up — yes,  a  prayer ;  a  silent  one,  but  none  the  less 
sincere.  A  glance  of  the  captain's  eye  aloft ;  a  word, 
"  Port !  "  to  Old  Jeff  at  the  wheel ;  another  word  in 
an  under  tone  to  the  mate  ;  and  then  the  loud  order, 
"Square  in  the  yards!"  chased  away  these  gentle 
thoughts,  and  recalled  my  mind  to  the  voyage  before 
me. 

As  we  had  rounded  Great  Point,  the  ship  was  kept 
away  with  the  wind  nearly  aft,  and  standing  more 
stiffly  up  to  her  work,  went  booming  off  at  a  rate  which 
promised  to  leave  home  far  out  of  sight  before  night 
fall.  Old  Jeff,  when  relieved  by  Manoel,  came  for 
ward  in  ecstacies.  He  had  quite  forgotten  his  growl 
ing  propensity,  in  the  excitement  of  the  moment,  and 
vowed  she  was  the  most  perfect  beauty  that  ever  swam 
under  his  flat  feet  ;  that  she  steered  like  a  pilot-boat  ; 
and,  as  fof  sailing !  why  she'd  go  round  and  round 
the  old  Colossus  (his  last  ship),  and  not  half  try  her 
self. 

"  Now,"  said  the  negro,  "  I  only  want  to  see  her 
work  on  a  wind,  and  go  in  stays  once  or  twice.  But 
/  know — confound  it — /  know  she'll  tack  in  a  pint  of 
water.  /  can  tell  by  the  way  she  feels  under  me.  If 


FROM  THE  BAR  ROUND  GREAT  POINT.      37 

we  don't  get  a  load  of  oil  this  time,  it  wont  be  the 
ship's  fault.  Hurrah  !  twenty-five  months — twenty- 
five  hundred  barrels  !  that's  all  we  want  to  give  her  a 
bellyful !  that's  all !  twenty-five  ;" — and  went  off  into  a 
shuffle  step  of  cadence. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

FAIRLY    AT    SEA. THE    FIRST    LOOKOUT. INTRODUC 
TIONS. 

BY  noon  the  ship  had  run  the  land  nearly  down  to 
the  horizon  line,  and  having  sufficient  offing,  with  the 
open  sea  before  her,  and  all  being  well  satisfied  with 
her  performance,  she  was  brought  to  the  wind  with 
the  maintopsail  thrown  aback  for  the  pilot-boat ;  and 
after  the  most  affectionate  leave-takings  and  hand 
shakings,  the  owner  and  the  rest  of  our  shore  friends 
left  us ;  many  of  them  with,  literally,  very  turbulent 
feelings.  Mr.  Richards  was  not  so  indisposed  but 
that  he  was  able  to  take  the  hand  of  each  of  his  young 
friends  in  turn,  and  bid  us  godspeed,  at  the  same  time 
leaving  in  our  hands  copies  of  our  outfit  bills  (receipt 
ed  in  full  by  order  on  the  owners),  as  a  parting  token 
of  his  esteem.  T.iree  cheers  were  given  as  they  shoved 
off  from  the  ship — or  rather  attempted,  with  but  in 
different  success,  and  somewhat  more  feeble  returned 
by  the  stay-at-homes  ;  and  in  a  few  minutes  we  again 
filled  away  on  our  course  to  the  eastward.  The  an 
chors  were  stowed  and  well  secured,  the  chain  cables 
run  down  into  the  lockers,  and  the  breeze  freshen- 


FAIRLY    AT    SEA.  39 

ing  in  the  afternoon,  the  ship  was  brought  down  to 
double-reefed  topsails ;  an  operation  requiring  con 
siderable  time  for  its  performance,  with  new  sails  and 
running  gear,  and  a  green  crew  ;  and  one  adapted  to 
develop  not  only  our  agility,  but  the  power  of  grip  in 
our  hands  ;  while  the  rigging  was  embraced  so  affec 
tionately  that  I  had  no  reason  to  wonder  at  the  com 
plaint  of  the  second  mate  that  we  had  robbed  all  the 
tar  from  it,  and  transferred  it  to  our  clothes.  Jeff 
had  his  fill  of  growling  at  the  "  children,"  as  if  they 
were  to  blame  that  they  had  not  been  born  able  sea 
men,  or  trained  as  "  reefers  "  in  the  district  school  ; 
while  Manoel  was  kind  enough  to  undo  all  my  part  of 
the  work  and  do  it  over  again,  instructing  me  at  the 
same  time  how  not  to  tie  a  gr-r-r-annee-knot,"  enuncia 
ting  the  r  with  a  noise  like  that  made  in  tearing  a 
strong  rag. 

At  sundown,  all  hands  were  called  aft,  and  request 
ed  to  <;  spread  "  ourselves  in  full  view  of  the  officers, 
and  the  process  of  choosing  watches  was  gone  through 
with,  the  mate  and  second  mate  selecting  a  man  al 
ternately,  till  all  were  disposed  of  except  the  "  idlers," 
such  as  the  cook,  steward,  cooper,  etc.  As  we  were 
chosen,  we  were  formed  in  two  divisions,  one  each 
side  of  the  deck,  according  as  we  were  billeted  in  the 
starboard  or  larboard  watch.  Next  came  the  choice 
of  oarsmen  for  the  respective  boats,  a  still  more  im 
portant  matter  in  a  whaler  ;  and  here  there  was  much 
competition  among  the  officers,  and  evidently  some 
anxiety,  with  a  little  ill-concealed  jealousy  of  feeling. 
I  found  myself  a  member  of  the  larboard  watch,  and 


40  THE    LOG    OF    THE   ARETHUSA. 

also  assigned  to  the  bow  oar  of  the  larboard,  or  chief 
mate's  boat. 

When  we  all  understood  our  places,  Captain  Upton 
introduced  his  officers  in  form,  as  Mr.  Grafton,  his 
mate,  Mr.  Dunham  his  second  mate,  and  Johnson,  his 
third  mate. 

"  These  are  my  officers,"  said  he,  "  and  I  look  for 
you  all  to  respect  and  obey  them  as  you  do  myself ; 
and  remember  that  when  either  of  them  is  on  deck  in 
charge  of  the  ship,  he  represents  me,  and  his  orders 
are  mine." 

He  told  us  he  should  allow  no  fighting  among  our 
selves,  he  wanted  to  see  no  sogering,  and,  above  all, 
to  hear  no  "  back  answers."  He  wound  up  with  a 
peroration  after  the  most  approved  and  stereotyped 
form,  which  has  been  handed  down  from  ancient  sea- 
captains  ;  indeed,  it  is  supposed  to  date  back  to  the 
patriarchal  system  of  government,  and  to  have  orig 
inated  with  Noah  when  he  first  closed  the  doors  of 
the  ark  : 

"  All  you've  got  to  do  is,  go  when  you  are  sent, 
and  come  when  you  are  called  ;  and  if  you  don't  have 
enough  to  eat,  come  aft  and  let  me  know.  Set  the 
watch,  Mr.  Grafton." 

The  starboard  watch  had  eight  hours  on  deck,  fol 
lowing  the  established  seaman's  rule  that  the  captain 
must  take  the  ship  out,  and  the  mate  take  her  home. 
When  our  watch  was  summoned  at  eleven  o'clock,  the 
ship  was  still  under  double  reefs,  but  the  wind  had 
hauled  round  to  the  northward-and-east-ward,  causing 
an  ugly  cross  sea,  and  she  was  braced  sharp  on  the 


FAIRLY   AT    SEA.  4! 

port  tack,  and  plunging  into  it  smartly.  The  weather 
was  quite  chilly,  and  as  our  end  of  the  deck  was  u  all 
afloat,"  we  naturally  made  our  way  aft  to  explore  for 
drier  quarters.  Mr.  Grafton  was  on  hand  to  meet  and 
count  us  at  the  mainmast.  Being  satisfied  the  quota 
was  full : 

"  Now,  boys,"  said  he,  "  you  will  remember  this.  In 
your  watch  on  deck,  you  are  expected  to  stay  on  deck  ; 
and  so  that  you  are  all  ready  for  a  call  when  I  want 
you,  you  may  pass  the  time  about  as  you  please,  and 
make  yourselves  as  comfortable  as  you  can — except 
one  man  at  the  wheel  and  one  looking  out  ahead.  I 
shall  want  one  of  you  always  on  the  lookout  at  night, 
and  you  must  arrange  the  tricks  among  yourselves  so 
that  I  may  always  find  one  there.  I  want  him  mounted 
up  somewhere  where  he  can  see  all  around  on  both 
bows,  and  where  I  can  see  him  if  I  come  forward.  If 
I  find  him  asleep,  I'll — never  mind — I'll  fix  him  so 
that  he  will  keep  his  eyes  open  next  time.  Now  go 
forward,  one  of  you  ;  and  mind,  all  the  rest  of  you 
keep  above  deck.  You  understand  the  wheel  and 
lookout  are  to  be  relieved  every  two  hours,  and  who 
ever  has  the  next  trick,  I  expect  him  to  be  travelling 
along  at  once  when  the  bell  rings ;  if  he  don't — he'll 
hear  from  me." 

I  volunteered  to  take  the  first  lookout,  and  my  offer 
was  accepted  with  enthusiasm.  I  struggled  forward, 
clutching  at  the  weather-rail,  and  finding  some  diffi 
culty  in  keeping  my  equilibrium  on  the  wet,  slip 
pery  deck,  as  the  buoyant  ship  rose  and  fell,  rolling  at 
times  heavily,  and  righting  with  a  sudden  recoil.  I 


42  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

looked  at  the  station  between  the  knight-heads  ;  but 
just  at  that  moment  she  made  a  heavy  pitch  forward, 
and  meeting  a  head  sea  in  full  career,  sent  it  flying 
high  over  the  bows,  and  rushing  down  the  heel  of  the 
bowsprit,  inboard ;  giving  ocular  evidence  that  I 
should  be  more  than  half  drowned  as  the  reward  of 
my  temerity,  if  I  ventured  up  there.  The  foretopsail 
sheet  bitts  presented  the  next  eligible  place,  and  here 
I  "  mounted  guard."  Planting  myself  in  a  Colossus- 
of-Rhodes  attitude,  with  my  back  against  the  fore 
mast,  and  one  arm  round  each  chain  sheet  for  a  firm 
hold,  I  stared  intently  into  the  black  void  ahead  of 
the  ship,  regardless  of  the  drenching  sprays  which 
every  now  and  then  flew  over  the  weather  bow  upon 
my  head,  rattling  down  my  sou'wester,  and  penetra 
ting  my  new  monkey  jacket,  which,  so  far  from  being 
water-proof,  might  have  been  aptly  classified  with  Mr. 
Weller's  hat,  as  "  wentilatin'  gossamer.''  I  was  the 
possessor  of  an  oil-cloth  suit,  but  it  was  below  in  the 
forecastle  ;  and  so  profoundly  was  I  impressed  with  a 
sense  of  the  responsibility  resting  upon  me,  that  I 
would  not  for  an  instant  have  stirred  from  my  post 
until  relieved,  for  anything  short  of  an  earthquake  ;  a 
contingency  not  likely  to  occur  so  far  out  in  the  At 
lantic  Ocean,  in  this  latitude.  No  one  came  near  me 
during  the  two  hours,  but  I  had  been  reconnoitred 
from  time  to  time  by  Mr.  Johnson,  who  was  skilled  in 
working  traverses  round  the  tryworks,  and  saw  a  great 
deal  without  being  seen  himself.  At  one  o'clock  the 
relief  bell  struck,  and  soon  after  a  voice  issued  from 
the  darkness : 


FAIRLY    AT    SEA.  43 

"  Hallo  !  Blacks-;;**//;,  where  you  ?  " 

"  Here  !  "   I  answered,  turning  half  round. 

"  Come  down  !  I  'lieve  you  !  "  hailed  Antone,  from 
the  fore-hatches. 

"  Leave  me  ?  what  for  ?  I've  been  left  here  two 
hours  now." 

"  No,  I  'lieve  you  !  I  take  you  place !  "  shouted  the 
Portuguese.  "  You  wet,  no  ? " 

Just  at  the  moment  a  gush  of  water  came  flying  in 
over  the  galley,  and  I  jumped  down  on  deck,  gasping 
for  breath,  and  streaming  from  every  thread.  The 
Portuguese  roared  with  laughter. 

"  What  for  you  stop  up  dere  ?  You  no  sabe  stand 
lookout.  By'mby  you  see  me  no  all  e'  same,"  continued 
Antone,  who  was  favoring  himself  under  the  lee  of 
the  foremast,  and  all  ready  for  a  rapid  retreat,  if  ne* 
cessary. 

But  this  was  my  first  lookout.  I  proved  myself,  in 
time,  an  apt  scholar,  and  learned  to  "favor  myself' 
in  many  particulars  ;  and  while  I  obeyed  orders,  and 
gave  satisfaction  to  my  superiors,  to  leave  responsi 
bility,  like  a  true  Jack,  to  those  who  were  better  paid 
for  it,  and  to  cultivate  close  acquaintances  with  the  soft 
est  planks  about  the  decks  on  all  convenient  occa 
sions. 

Those  who  predicted  a  good  voyage  for  the  Arethusa 
did  not,  in  this  instance,  as  in  many  others,  do  so 
without  reason  ;  and  they  did  no  more  than  justice  to 
Captain  Upton  and  his  officers  when  they  pronounced 
her  well  appointed.  The  captain  himself  was  a  man 
of  great  energy  and  undaunted  courage,  still  in  the 


44  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

prime  of  life,  who  always  headed  his  own  boat,  and 
took  the  initiative  himself  in  whaling.  He  was  rather 
taciturn,  saying  little  more  than  was  really  necessary 
on  any  occasion,  but  possessed  great  firmness  and  an 
iron  will.  There  was  nothing  of  the  Tartar  about  him, 
and  very  little  to  justify  Old  Jeff's  bugbear  statement 
as  to  his  being  "  a  hard  one."  He  had  his  peculiari 
ties,  however,  not  to  say  failings.  No  man  could 
study  more  closely  the  interest  of  his  owners  ;  and  as 
he  was  now  identified  with  them,  being  a  part  owner 
himself  in  the  new  ship,  we  felt  the  effects  of  it  in  the 
commissariat  department.  Moreover,  he  was  very 
proud  of  his  vessel ;  so  much  so  as  to  be  old-maidish 
in  regard  to  the  neatness  of  her  appearance,  and  de 
voted  more  time  and  labor  to  this  end  than  was  at  all 
agreeable  either  to  his  crew  or  officers.  On  the  whole, 
however,  he  was  justly  regarded  as  a  most  efficient 
man  for  his  station,  and  ranked  A.  I.  on  the  list  of 
crack  whaling  captains. 

His  chief-executive  and  prime  minister,  Mr.  Graf- 
ton,  was  a  tall,  massive-looking  man,  of  fine  personal 
appearance,  something  older  than  his  superior.  He 
had  made  three  voyages  in  the  same  capacity,  being 
one  of  those  choice  mates,  who,  by  some  chance, 
never  get  command  of  a  ship,  perhaps  in  virtue  of  a 
saying  much  in  vogue  among  shipowners,  and  in  many 
instances  acted  upon,  "  that  it  is  a  pity  to  spoil  a 
good  mate  by  making  him  master."  A  man  of  rather 
thoughtful  cast  of  mind,  of  much  intelligence,  and 
possessed  of  an  extensive  stock  of  information  upon 
many  subjects,  with  a  habit  of  generalizing  and  a  clear- 


FAIRLY    AT    SEA.  45 

ness,  of  expression  which  rendered  him  an  agreeable 
companion  to  all  with  whom  he  came  in  contact. 
Though  a  good  whaleman,  Grafton  was  not  what  is 
known  to  the  connoisseur  as  a  "  fishy  man  ;  *'  he  had  no 
lungs  to  blow  his  own  trumpet,  and  sometimes  distrust 
ed  his  own  powers,  though  generally  found  equal  to  any 
emergency  after  it  arose.  This  want  of  confidence 
sometimes  led  him  to  hesitate,  where  a  more  impul 
sive  or  less  thoughtful  man  would  act  at  once.  In  the 
course  of  his  career  he  had  seen  many  "  fishy"  young 
men  lifted  over  his  head  ;  but  as  he  was  very  highly  es 
teemed  in  his  station,  and  received  nearly  a  captain's 
pay,  he  was  well  contented  as  he  was.  He  was  de 
votedly  attached  to  his  family  at  home,  personated  the 
gentleman  in  all  he  said  and  did,  and  well  sustained 
the  character. 

Dunham,  the  second  officer,  was  a  smart  young 
fellow  of  two-and-twenty,  active,  strong,  and  "  fishy 
to  the  backbone."  His  chief  fault,  as  an  officer,  lay  in 
his  being  an  invetc-rate  sleeper  ;  he  could  never,  upon 
any  consideration,  keep  awake  a  whole  four-hour 
watch. 

The  mulatto  Johnson  had  steered  a  boat  with  Cap 
tain  Upton  before  in  the  Colossus,  and  was  well 
known  in  Nantucket  as  "  a  long-dart  man."  He 
was  somewhat  of  the  Shanghai  build. —  tall  and 
long-shanked,  with  great  strength  of  limb,  and  could 
plug  a  whale  better  if  four  fathoms  distant  than  he 
could  "  wood  and  blacks  kin."  He  had  an  eye  like  a 
hawk,  and  could  see  a  spout  as  far  with  his  natural 
optics  as  most  men  could  through  a  telescope.  He 


46  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

was  ignorant  of  everything  out  of  his  own  immedi 
ate  line,  and  sometimes  rather  overbearing.  He  was 
not  disliked,  in  the  main,  by  the  crew,  if  we  except 
Jeff  and  the  cook,  who  being  old  shipmates  of  his,  and 
themselves  of  the  pure  blood,  were  averse  to  tolerating 
anything  of  a  mongrel  description,  or  "  milk-and- 
molasses  color,"  as  they  termed  it.  "  No  compromise  " 
was  their  platform,  on  this  particular  issue. 

The  cooper  of  the  Arethusa  was  an  important  per 
sonage,  as,  indeed,  the  cooper  always  is  in  a  whaler. 
The  duties  of  this  functionary  are  of  a  peculiar  charac 
ter,  and  about  as  independent  of  all  the  rest  as  those 
of  a  surgeon  in  a  man-of-war.  He  is  neither  officer 
nor  man,  strictly  speaking,  his  lay  or  pay  being  near 
ly  equal  to  that  of  a  second  mate.  He  lives  aft  with 
the  officers,  but  makes  himself  at  home  in  all  parts 
of  the  ship,  occupying  a  sort  of  neutral  ground — a 
kind  of  connecting  link  between  republicanism  and 
oligarchy,  neither  too  high  nor  too  low  to  consort  or 
joke  with  anybody  and  everybody.  As  a  general  rule, 
he  stands  no  watch,  but  does  his  day's  work  and  sleeps 
all  night,  and  in  many  ways  evinces  consciousness  of 
his  own  value,  and  of  the  indispensable  character  of 
his  services.  For  a  whaler  may,  and,  in  fact,  often 
does,  go  to  sea  without  a  blacksmith  or  without  a  car 
penter  ;  but  the  cooper  is  an  essential  part  of  her 
equipage.  An  officer  or  a  boatsteerer  may,  in  case  of 
emergency,  be  created  at  sea,  by  promotion  ;  but  the 
cooper  is  not  so  easily  replaced. 

The  cooper  in  question  was  a  stout,  grave-looking 
man  of  forty  or  thereabouts,  with  a  shaggy  mass  of 


FAIRLY    AT    SEA.  47 

grey  hair,  and  a  patriarchally  long  beard.  His  me 
chanical  work  was  of  excellent  quality,  what  little  he 
accomplished  ;  for  he  always  worked  on  the  principle 
of  the  tortoise  in  the  race — "  slow  and  sure."  He 
scraped  indifferently  well  on  the  violin,  but  delighted 
especially  in  drawing  a  longer  bow.  In  virtue  of  this 
latter  accomplishment,  he  might  have  claimed  near 
relationship  with  a  certain  gentleman  known  in  classic 
lore  as  Thomas  Pepper, without  having  his  title  ques 
tioned  for  a  moment.  He  always  told  his  yarns  as 
gospel  truth,  and  would  back  them  with  any  oath,  if 
required. 

The  two  young  boatsteerers,  Bunker  and  Fisher, 
with  the  Portuguese  steward,  completed  the  "  after 
guard."  In  the  forecastle  there  was,  in  addition  to 
the  personages  already  mentioned,  the  usual  variety 
of  character  and  disposition  to  be  found  among  a 
dozen  young  men,  recruited  at  random  in  this  man 
ner.  Now  that  we  were  getting  initiated  to  a  sea  life, 
we  were  beginning  to  have  opinions,  and  to  express 
them,  no  longer  leaving  the  whole  field  to  Jeff  and  the 
sea-lawyer.  As  for  the  Nantucket  boys,  Kelly  and 
Hoeg  (or  Obed  B.,  as  I  still  persisted  in  calling  him), 
they  made  rapid  progress  in  knowledge  and  confidence. 
As  I  have  before  intimated,  these  young  "  natives  to 
the  manor  born  "  seemed  to  look  upon  this  life  with 
the  eye  of  fatalists.  It  was  foreordained  that  they 
should  be  sailors,  and  nothing  in  their  new  way  of 
life  seemed  to  surprise  or  disturb  them  for  a  moment. 
Everything  took  place  as  a  matter  of  course  with 
them.  They  never  seemed  to  think  they  could,  by 


48  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

any  possibility,  have  followed  any  other  business  for  a 
livelihood ;  and  each  new  ^event  or  circumstance  of 
the  voyage  was  merely  another  link  in  the  chain  of 
their  inevitable  destiny.  They  were  born  to  go  whal 
ing  and  a  station  on  the  quarterdeck  was  the  goal  of 
their  ambition. 

They  had  not  been  more  than  a  week  at  sea  before 
they  had  taken  some  of  the  starch  out  of  the  sea-lawyer, 
who  had  attempted  to  assert  his  "  rights  "  by  hazing 
them  about,  and  calling  upon  them  to  perform  various 
menial  services  for  him,  which  he  said  it  was  a  "  boy's, 
place  to  do." 

One  morning  he  ordered  Kelly,  in  a  very  arbitrary 
way,  to  go  on  deck  and  bring  him  down  some  water, 
which  Kelly  flatly  refused  to  do.  The  sea-lawyer 
declared  he  would  "  make  him  do  it ;"  and  upon  Kelly's 
expressing  a  doubt  as  to  his  ability  to  perform  that 
feat,  he  proceeded  to  enforce  his  command,  vietarmis. 
But  he  was  met  by  the  boy  with  a  spirit  that  he  had 
not  looked  for,  and  before  he  could  get  a  good  hold 
upon  the  youngster,  so  as  to  chastise  him,  as  he  ex 
pected  easily  to  do,  he  was  attacked  in  the  rear  by 
Obed  B.,  who  arrived  on  the  field  just  in  time  to  rein 
force  his  chum  and  schoolmate.  This  gave  Kelly  a 
chance  to  rally  and  assume  the  offensive  ;  and  Burley, 
who  was  a  most  arrant  coward,  finding  himself  roughly 
handled  between  the  two,  was  fain  to  call  for  an  armis 
tice.  A  parley  ensued,  and  the  boys  gave  him- to  un 
derstand  that  they  did  not  come  to  sea  to  be  boys, 
but  to  make  themselves  men,  and  that  they  would  not 
submit  to  be  bullied  by  him.  And  the  upshot  of  the 


FAIRLY    AT    SEA.  49 

matter  was,  that  the  champion  of  "  rights  "  made  rather 
an  ignominious  retreat  from  the  field,  as  compared 
with  the  vigor  of  his  first  attack.  All  this  was  nuts, 
of  course,  to  the  rest  of  us  youngsters,  who  desired 
nothing  more  earnestly  than  to  see  the  bully  humbled 
a  little ;  while  the  emotion  of  Manoel  was  too  power 
ful  to  find  utterance — in  intelligible  English.  He 
patted  the  two  boys  on  the  shoulder,  in  the  exuber 
ance  of  his  spirits,  while  his  tongue  rattled  until  1 
thought  all  his  teeth  were  loose  in  the  jaws  ;  but  to 
save  my  life,  I  could  not  have  told  what  he  was  trying 
to  say. 

There  was  plenty  of  work  for  all  hands  on  the  pas 
sage  out,  as  every  one  will  understand  who  has  ever 
performed  a  voyage  in  a  new  ship.  We  found  our 
duties  very  fatiguing,  as  we  were  kept  at  work  all  day, 
and  had  a  watch  to  stand  at  night.  There  was  all 
the  new  rigging  to  be  stretched  and  set  up  over  and 
again,  in  addition  to  the  thousand  and  one  other  mat 
ters  to  be  attended  to,  to  put  everything  in  trim  for 
whaling  against  the  opening  of  the  campaign.  The 
old  salts  growled  night  and  clay  in  the  forecastle  about 
having  no  "  watch  below  ;  "  but  as  we  verdant  ones 
had  but  a  vague  idea  of  what  they  meant  by  it,  we  had 
but  little  to  say  about  this  grievance. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE    WESTERN    ISLANDS. "  YARNS  "    AND    ANECDOTES. 

ON  the  eighteenth  day  out  from  Nantucket,  the 
high  peak  of  Pico  was  visible  from  the  masthead,  and 
having  a  fair  breeze,  we  were  lying  off  and  on  at  the 
port  of  Fayal  the  same  afternoon.  The  captain,  with 
the  starboard  boat's  crew,  went  ashore,  and  the  ship 
made  short  boards  to  await  his  return,  the  Pandora 
and  two  whaleships  from  New  Bedford  in  company. 
Two  more  ships  were  at  anchor  having  taken  some 
oil  on  the  outward  passage  and  put  in  to  land  it  to  be 
shipped  home.  Several  Portuguese  boats  came  along 
side,  of  the  most  clumsy  and  primitive  construction  im 
aginable,  characteristic  of  a  people  who  are  a  couple 
of  centuries  behind  the  times.  The  boatmen  ap 
peared  to  be,  "  like  Captain  Copperthorne's  crew,  all 
officers,"  and  jabbered  and  shouted  all  at  once,  in 
most  admirable  discord,  and  at  such  a  furious  rate 
that  I  found  myself  wondering  whether  they  really 
could  understand  each  other  or  not,  and  certainly 
never  contemplated  the  possibility  of  any  American 
having  the  remotest  idea  what  they  were  talking  about. 
But  I  found  that  Mr.  Grafton  could  converse  with 
them  quite  fluently  whenever  he  could  make  himself 
heard  in  the  din  and  confusion.  These  boats  brought 


THE    WESTERN    ISLANDS.  5 1 

a  few  inferior  oranges,  sour  enough  to  make  a  pig 
squeal  (if  he  would  touch  them  at  all,  which  of  course 
he  wouldn't,  if  a  sensible  pig),  with  some  miniature 
cheeses,  which,  with  a  little  more  drying,  might  have 
been  made  available  as  sheaves  for  small  blocks  with 
out  much  alteration  in  size,  form  or  consistency  of 
material.  These  they  either  sold  for  money  or  bar 
tered  for  various  articles  of  ship's  provisions,  and 
were  perfect  Jews  at  a  bargain. 

Just  before  sundown  a  large  launch,  deeply  loaded, 
was  seen  coming  out,  with  a  rag  hoisted  on  a  pole  as 
a  signal.  This  launch  was  of  even  more  primitive  ap 
pearance  than  the  smaller  ones.  She  might  have  been 
the  longboat  of  one  of  Vasco  de  Gama's  fleet,  of  four 
centuries  ago  ;  at  any  rate,  if  his  ship  had  any  long 
boats,  they  were  exactly  of  this  model.  We  stood  well 
in  to  meet  her,  and  wearing  off  shore  with  the  maintop- 
sail  aback,  took  her  alongside.  Her  cargo  of  potatoes, 
onions  and  live  stock  was  to  be  taken  on  board  and 
stowed  away,  and,  as  the  captain  arrived  soon  after 
wards,  with  his  boat  laden  to  the  gunwale  streak  with 
vegetables,  it  was  quite  dark  before  she  was  again  in 
her  place  on  the  cranes,  and  sail  made  on  the  ship. 

Among  the  live  stock  brought  on  board  was  a 
handsome  little  boy,  who  was  to  help  the  steward  in 
the  cabin,  much  to  the  enhancement  of  that  function 
ary's  importance,  as  he  could  now  attend  to  many 
calls  by  deputy  which  before  he  was  compelled  to 
answer  in  person  ;  and  .would  also  have  some  one  to 
lay  all  little  mishaps  to,  such  as  dishes  broken  and 
lamps  untrimmed. 


52  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

The  Pandora  braced  full  about  the  same  time  as 
the  Arethusa,  but  it  was  soon  apparent  that  she  could 
not  compete  in  sailing  qualities  with  the  new  ship, 
and  she  gradually  dropped  astern.  The  breeze  was 
light  from  the  north-west,  with  fine  v/eather,  and  we 
now  had  leisure  to  get  supper,  and  to  listen,  to  the 
yarns  of  those  who  had  been  ashore. 

Manoel  and  Antone  had  seen  their  relatives  and 
friends — meeting  them  after  years  of  absence,  to  part 
again  in  an  hour  or  two — and  had  found  time  to  visit 
the  priest  and  get  full  absolution,  balancing  the  ac 
count  up  to  date,  and  opening  a  new  page,  ready  to 
run  up  another  score.  Farrell,  a  young  Irishman  who 
pulled  the  captain's  bow  oar,  had  become  considerably 
elevated  by  imbibing  too  much  sour  wine  and  aguar 
diente,  and  was  full  of  stories  of  his  own  prowess  in 
knocking  over  a  "  Portinghee  "  who  had  dared  to  re 
monstrate  against  his  kissing  a  pretty,  black-eyed  girl, 
his  sister,  he  supposed;  for,  like  a  true  Milesian,  he 
had  been  the  hero  of  a  drinking  bout,  a  love  intrigue 
and  a  knockdown  row,  all  within  half  an  hour  after  he 
landed. 

"  I  jist  took  him  a  nate  clip  betwane  the  eyes,"  said 
Farrell,  "  and  laid  him  out  foreninst  the  door  of  his 
shanty.  Thin  you  see,  five  or  six  murtherin'  Portinguese 
pitched  intil  me,  and  was  afther  carryin'  me  off,  body 
and  sovvl,  to  the  lockup  ;  but  the  ould  man  interfared, 
and  settled  it  somehow.  Afther  he'd  paid  me  fine,  he 
tould  me  I'd  betther  go  down  to  the  boat,  and  not  lave 
her  again.  So  I  went  and  got  int'l  her  and  shoved 
her  off  the  length  of  her  tather,  and  there  was  a  crowd 


THR   WESTERN    ISLANDS.  53 

of  the  nagurs  jabberin'  and  squintin'  at  me  wid  their 
corkindile  eyes ;  but  I  knowed  I  was  in  sanctyeary 
thin.  I'd  half  a  bottle  of  that  blackguard  potteen 
what  they  call  dent,  so  I  jist  sot  and  looked  at  'em 
back  again,  and  dhrank  their  healths.  I  suppose  the 
ould  man'll  be  chargin'  me  the  fine  on  the  ship's 
books." 

"  Yes,  you  can  bet  high  on  that,"  said  Jeff,  "  and 
the  interest,  too." 

"  Yes,'%  said  the  sea-lawyer,  "  but  you  needn't  be 
fool  enough  to  pay  it.  If  every  man  stood  up  for  his 
rights,  they  wouldn't  gouge  him  in  that  style.  A  man 
can't  go  ashore  and  drink  a  drop,  and  have  a  bit  of  a 
time — and  that's  what  he  goes  ashore  for,  of  course — 
but  he  must  have  a  long  bill  of  calaboose  fees  tacked  to 
his  account ;  and  that  d — d  twenty-five  per  cent  added 
on.  If  they  charge  it  to  me,  they'll  never  get  it,  that's 
all.  I  know  what  they've  got  a  right  to  do." 

"  I  don't  know  nothin'  about  the  rights,"  said  Jeff, 
"  but  I  know  the  old  man  will  charge  it  to  you,  and 
make  you  pay  it,  too." 

"Well,  you'll  see,"  said  Burley.  "I'll  have  my 
rights." 

"  What  are  you  blowing  about  your  rights  ?"  put  in 
the  cooper,  who  had  just  come  forward  with  his  pipe 
freshly  loaded,  an  indication  that  some  ridiculous  lie 
was  also  charged  and  ready  to  be  fired  with  the  tobacco. 
"  You've  got  no  rights.  The  rights  are  all  in  one  end 
of  the  ship,  and  the  wrongs  in  the  other.  Why,  when 
I  was  out  in  the  old  Deucalion,"  pausing  to  clear  his 
pipe,  and  thereby  fixing  the  attention  of  all  his  auditors, 


54  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

"we  had  a  black  fellow  called  Sam.  He  had  a  head 
harder  than  Rock  Redonda.  We  used  to  put  pieces 
of  tobacco  on  top  of  the  windlass-bitts,  and  then  let 
him  butt  the  bitts  till  he  brought  the  tobacco  down 
and  put  it  in  his  pocket.  He  would  let  a  man  split 
a  serving  mallet  on  his  head  any  time,  for  a  drink  of 
grog.  But  most  of  the  serving  mallets  were  soft  wood 
or  ash,  made  out  of  old  oar  looms,  so  they'd  split  quite 
easily.  Well,  I  come  it  over  him  once.  I  was  to 
give  him  a  whole  bottle  of  liquor  to  stand  up  under 
any  wooden  mallet  that  I  chose  to  use.  I  had  a  white 
oak  one  down  in  my  chest,  and  I  brought  it  up  and 
struck  him  about  ten  blows  as  tight  as  I  could  spring 
before  I  shivered  it.  The  darkey  stood  his  ground 
like  a  rock,  and  won  the  bottle  of  liquor,  and  drank  it, 
too.  His  skull  wasn't  hurt  a  bit,  but  his  eyes  were 
knocked  all  asquint,  and  he  never  got  'em  straight 
afterwards !  " 

"  Here,  Cooper,  take  my  hat.  It's  the  only  ona 
I've  got,  but  you've  earned  it,"  said  Jeff. 

"No,  no/' said  the  indignant  disciple  of  Pepper. 
"  I  don't  want  your  old  jug.  Maybe  you  think  I'm 
romancing,  but  I'm  just  telling  you  the  plain  truth. 
But  you've  put  me  out,  and  I  haven't  finished  my 
story.  The  point  I  was  going  to  illustrate  was,  that 
the  rights  were  all  in  one  end  of  the  ship,  and  the 
wrongs  in  the  other.  Well,  on  the  passage  home,  one 
day  we  were  reefing  the  maintopsail,  and  this  black 
Sam  fell  on  the  yard,  and  went  smack  through  the 
bottom  of  the  waist  boat,  head  first,  overboard.  We 
lowered  a  boat  and  managed  to  save  him.  He  wasn't 


THE    WESTERN    ISLANDS.  55 

much  hurt,  but  the  boat  was  ruined.  She  was  a  boat 
that  we  had  bought  out  of  an  English  colonial  whaler, 
and  was  built  of  that  sweet-scented  yellow  wood  that 
grows  in  Van  Diemen's  land.  You've  seen  it,  Jeff, 
and  you  know  just  how  brittle  it  is.  Well,  when  Sam's 
head  struck  in  the  bottom  of  the  boat,  the  splits  flew 
in  all  directions,  j  ust  like  throwing  a  stone  in  the  middle 
of  a  pane  of  glass.  So  the  boat  was  past  all  repairing. 
Well,  when  we  got  home,  would  you  believe  it  ?  Old 
Captain  Harper  had  charged  Sam  sixty  dollars,  the 
whole  value  of  a  new  boat,  and  Sam  had  to  pay  it  out 
of  his  voyage  !  He  made  inquiries,  and  found  it  would 
be  cheaper  to  pay  the  bill  than  to  stand  a  lawsuit 
about  it." 

"  O,  I've  heard  that  story,  or  something  like  it,  in 
Nantucket,"  said  the  boy  Kelly. 

"  Yes,  so  have  I,"  said  Obed  B. 

"  But  you  boys  never  believed  it  was  true,  did  you  ?" 
asked  the  cooper. 

"  No,  of  course  not,"  protested  both  the  boys  at 
once. 

"You  may  do  so  hereafter,"  said  the  cooper,  gravely. 
"  You  may  say  that  you  had  it  from  an  eye-witness." 
And  having  finished  his  yarns  for  the  night,  he  went 
puffing  away  aft,  leaving  all  hands  staring  at  each  other 
in  blank  astonishment. 

"That  be  hanged  for  a  yarn,"  growled  Burley,  after 
he  was  gone.  "  Even  if  it  had  been  true,  the  man 
needn't  have  paid  a  cent,  if  he  had  stood  up  for  his 
rights." 

"  Well,  dere,  it  aint  no  use  to  talk  any  after  dat 


56  THE    LOG   OF    THE   ARETHUSA. 

story,"  said  the  cook,  with  a  meditative  shake  of  the 
head,  "  We's  heard  enough.  I  guess  Cooper  can  take 
de  belt." 

It  was  my  trick  at  the  wheel  from  nine  to  eleven, 
and  when  I  went  aft,  I  found  the  captain  still  on  deck, 
leaning  over  the  companionvvay  on  our  side,  with 
"  Father  Grafton,"  as  we  had  fallen  into  the  habit  of 
calling  him,  on  the  other  ;  and  I  am  afraid  I  did  not 
steer  the  ship  so  accurately  as  I  might  have  done  un 
der  other  circumstances.  Their  conversation,  how 
ever,  served  to  distract  their  attention  from  my 
shortcomings,  as  well  as  to  distract  mine  from  the 
proper  management  of  the  helm. 

"  I  was  thinking,"  said  the  mate,  reflectively,  as  he 
looked  at  the  high  peak  looming  astern,  "  one  can 
hardly  believe  that  the  Portuguese  were  once  a  great 
maritime  nation,  taking  the  lead  in  navigation  and 
discovery.  I  was  thinking,  too  that  it  must  have  re 
quired  some  pluck  and  nerve  to  make  the  voyages  that 
they  used  to  make,  with  no  more  tools  than  they  had 
to  work  with.  Just  imagine,  now,  we  are  steering 
south-west  from  these  islands,  with  no  chart  of  the 
sea  ahead  of  us,  and  no  nautical  instrument  better 
than  a  rude  cross-staff  to  get  a  latitude  with,  in  a  ves 
sel  not  as  big  as  one  of  our  sloop-rigged  coasters,  and 
not  decked  over  at  that.  And  the  island  astern  of 
us  is,  so  far  as  we  know,  the  very  Ultima  Thule  of 
western  discovery." 

"  It  is  just  like  you,  Mr.  Grafton,  to  be  thinking  of 
those  things,"  returned  the  captain.  "  Yes,  it's  true, 
as  you  say,  there  must  have  been  anxious  hearts  and 


THE    WESTERN    ISLANDS.  57 

vigilant  eyes  on  board  of  those  little  caravels.  And 
yet  there  was  a  romantic  excitement  about  those  voy 
ages,  too,  that  I  think  would  have  been  fascinating  to 
me,  if  I  had  lived  in  that  age.  I  have  often  thought  I 
should  have  enjoyed  a  voyage  like  that  of  Columbus, 
or  perhaps  better,  with  the  ships  and  facilities  of  a 
later  period,  say  those  of  Anson  or  Cook.  But  we 
were  born  too  late  for  that,  Mr.  Grafton  ;  the  work  is 
nearly  all  done  for  us." 

"  Yes,  sir,"  replied  the  mate,  "  and  we  are  obliged 
to  complain,  like  Alexander  of  Macedon,  that  there  are 
no  more  worlds  to  discover.  I  cannot  help  wishing, 
every  voyage  that  I  visit  these  Azores,  that  they  be 
longed  to  some  more  liberal  and  progressive  people 
than  the  Portuguese.  With  their  position  and  climate, 
they  might  be  a  station  of  some  importance,  if  in 
different  hands." 

"  Yes,  I  have  often  thought  the  same  thing  ;  for, 
however  enterprising  the  Portuguese  might  have 
been  in  the  days  of  De  Gama  and  Columbus,  it  must 
be  admitted  they  have  made  no  progress  since,  but 
rather  gone  astern.  Well,  we  have  had  a  fine  day 
for  our  work,  Mr.  Grafton,  and  we  have  got  recruits 
enough  to  carry  us  round  Cape  Horn,  I  think,  with 
out  fear  of  the  scurvy.  I  am  rather  disappointed  in 
one  respect,"  continued  Captain  Upton.  "  I  had  hoped 
to  have  taken  some  oil  on  the  passage,  to  send  home 
from  here.  I  have  been  lucky  enough,  every  voyage 
before  this,  to  get  a  whale  or  two  near  these  islands." 

"  The  Pandora  has  got  nothing  yet,"  said  Father 
Grafton,  "by  the  looks  of  the  paint  in  her  waist." 


58  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

"  No,"  replied  the  captain, "  but  she  has  seen  whales 
twice  on  the  passage,  and  has  been  fast,  and  had  a 
boat  stove.  I  saw  Captain  Worth  ashore." 

"  I  have  a  presentiment,"  said  the  mate,  "  that  we 
shall  get  a  whale  yet  before  we  get  far  from  the  isl 
ands.  We  shall  hardly  run  Pico  out  of  sight  between 
now  and  morning,  with  this  little  breeze,  and  we  have 
a  promise  of  a  fine  whaling  day  to-morrow." 

"The  voyage  that  I  was  mate  of  the  Colossus," 
said  the  captain,  4<  we  took  two  large  whales  at  one 
fare — more  to  the  westward.  We  had  Floresand  Corvo 
both  in  sight  when  we  were  cutting  them.  It  came 
on  very  rugged  weather,  and  we  had  a  hard  time  sav 
ing  them.  We  muckled  them  after  a  fashion,  but  I 
suppose  we  lost  thirty  or  forty  barrels  of  oil  on  the 
two,  and  the  deficiency,  of  course,  was  mostly  on  the 
head  matter.  I  know  that  the  oil  we  shipped  home 
did  not  bring  full  price,  because  there  was  not  the 
full  proportion  of  head.  Ever  since  that,  I  always 
meant  to  make  the  full  proportion,  anyhow,"  said  the 
captain,  with  a  sly  laugh. 

"  Yes,  sir,"  said  Father  Grafton.  "  I  don't  blame 
you  for  that,  but  it  wont  do  to  smuggle  too  much. 
Now,  when  I  was  on  my  first  voyage,  with  Hosea 
Coffin,  he  used  to  pile  it  on  rather  too  steep.  He 
wasn't  satisfied  with  one  third  head  :  he  was  famous 
for  working  in  the  core  of  the  hump,  and  other  fat 
parts  with  it  ;  and  if  we  came  out  with  an  ullage  cask 
of  head  on  the  stowdown,  he'd  be  sure  to  fill  it  up 
with  body  oil,  and  scratch  a  big  H.  on  it.  So  that 
we  had  a  large  quantity  of  head  oil,  but  the  quality 


THE   WESTERN    ISLANDS.  59 

wasn't  well  up  to  the  standard.  Well,  when  he  was 
going  out  in  the  same  ship  next  voyage,  '  Cousin 
Ephraim,'  the  old  Quaker  owner,  said  to  him  : 

" '  Hosea,  there's  one  thing  I'd  advise  thee  not  to 
do,  this  voyage.' 

"  '  What's  that  ?'  asked  Captain  Coffin. 

"  *  I  think,'  said  Cousin  Ephraim,  in  his  sly,  chuck 
ling  way, '  thee'd  better  not  cut  off  thy  whale's  heads 
abaft  the  hump  ! '  " 

They  both  laughed  so  heartily  at  this  story  that  I 
had  a  quiet  laugh,  too,  in  sympathy  with  them,  though 
I  did  not  then  appreciate  the  point  of  it  as  well  as  I 
afterwards  did. 

"  There's  a  deal  of  sly  fun  in  some  of  those  old 
Quakers,"  said  Captain  Upton.  "  I  recollect  when  I 
went  down  to  ship  in  the  Poor  Richard,  as  boatsteerer, 
'  Uncle  Peleg '  offered  me  the  eightieth  lay,  but  I 
struck  for  the  seventieth.  I  knew  I  could  get  it  in 
another  ship,  though  I  rather  preferred  to  go  in  this 
one  for  the  same  lay.  So  I  was  as  independent  as  a 
woodsawyer's  clerk,  and  wouldn't  budge  tack  nor 
sheet.  After  chaffering  for  some  time,  Uncle  Peleg 
began  to  scratch  the  sand  with  his  ivory-headed  cane, 
in  a  meditative  way.  -Said  he  : 

"  '  James  I  want  thee  to  go  in  the  ship,  and  I  will 
give  thee — ' 

Here  he  marked  a  7  in  the  sand,  and  then  slowly 
carried  his  cane  round  in  a  circle,  and  resting  the 
point  of  it,  looked  in  my  face. 

" '  Yes/  said  I,  '  I'll  go  for  that.1 

"  But  as  I  spoke,  with  a  slight  movement   of  the 


6O  THE    LOG   OF   THE   ARETHUSA-. 

wrist  he  finished  the  last  figure,  by  swinging  a 
tangent  to  the  circle.  As  I  looked  down  again,  it 
read  79. 

" '  No/  said  I,  indignantly,  '  I'll  see  you  hanged 
first ! ' 

"  '  James,  James,'  said  Uncle  Peleg,  '  don't  lose  thy 
temper.  Thee  shall  go  in  the  Poor  Richard,  and,' — 
nudging  me  in  the  ribs, 'we'll  have  no  tail  to  the 
matter  at  all." 

"  '  All  right,'  I  answered.  He  rubbed  it  out  again 
with  his  foot. 

"'Now,'  said  he,  '  come  right  up  to  the  store  and  put 
thy  name  down.  Thee  must  go  in  the  ship  ;  but  really, 
James,  I  didn't  think  thee  would  ask  me  such  a  lay  as 
that.  Thee  needn't  tell  the  other  boatsteerers  what 
thee  gets.'  " 

Father  Grafton  shook  his  sides  with  merriment  at 
this  anecdote,  and  the  captain  now  rose  to  go  below. 

"  Well,  Blacksmith,"  said  he,  "  you  are  making  rather 
a  crooked  wake.  If  you  don't  keep  herstraighter,  the 
Pandora  will  overhaul  us.  Well,  what  do  you  think  of 
these  Portuguese  ? " 

"  I  didn't  go  ashore,  sir,"  answered  I.  "  I  only  saw 
the  boatmen  that  came  off,  and  I  thought  they  had  all 
broken  out  of  a  lunatic  asylum." 

"  I  don't  wonder  at  that,"  he  said.  "  They  were  all 
talkers  and  no  listeners.  But  did  you  notice  any  of 
them  with  a  finger  cut  off  ? " 

"  Yes,  sir,  I  saw  two,  and  I  thought  it  a  little  remark 
able  ;  and  now  I  remember,  our  Antone  has  lost  his, 


THE    WESTERN    ISLANDS.  6 1 

"  Yes,"  said  he,  "  about  every  third  man  has  his  fore 
finger  amputated.  That's  to  escape  military  service, 
by  disabling  themselves  from  pulling  a  trigger.  You 
see  there's  a  certain  proportion  of  them  conscripted 
every  year,  and  sent  off  to  Portugal  to  serve  in  the 
army." 

"  Do  you  mean,  sir,"  I  asked,  "  that  they  cut  the 
forefinger  off,  or  have  it  cut  off,  designedly  ?" 

"  Certainly,"  said  the  captain.  "  I  suppose  the  treat 
ment  is  not  very  good  in  their  army,  and  there  is  not 
much  to  excite  patriotic  feeling,  as  they  seldom  do  any 
fighting  except  among  themselves  ;  so  these  young 
'Guese  will  make  a  sacrifice  of  a  finger  to  escape  ser 
vice.  But  I  wonder  that  they  are  allowed  to  escape  in 
that  way.  In  the  English  or  French  service,  they 
would  be  held  ;  and  if  they  couldn't  fire  a  musket,  they 
would  have  to  serve  as  pioneers  or  something  else. 
That  is,  if  it  was  known  that  they  maimed  themselves 
intentionally.  But  it  is  time  to  go  below,"  said  he 
abruptly.  "  I  have  strong  hopes  of  seeing  whales  to 
morrow,  and  I  will  give  five  dollars  to  the  man  that 
'  raises'  a  large  whale  ;  that  is,  if  we  get  him." 

"  But  how  large  a  one  ?  "  I  asked. 

"  Say  over  fifty  barrels.  I  will  give  five  dollars 
bounty  for  fifty  barrels  of  oil.  Pass  the  word  among 
all  hands,  when  the  watch  is  called.  Good-night,  Mr. 
Grafton.  Let  her  go  south-by-west  through  the  night." 

''  South-by-west,  sir,"  answered  Father  Grafton, 
"Good-night." 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE      FIRST      WHALE. 

The  next  morning,  having  the  first  masthead,!  was 
in  the  fore-topgallant  crosstrees  at  sunrise,  thinking, 
of  course,  of  the  five  dollars'  bounty  all  the  way  up 
the  rigging.  The  dim  outline  of  the  peak  was  still 
visible,  and  the  topsails  of  the  Pandora  just  in  sight 
astern,  the  wind  still  continuing  moderate  at  W.  N. 
VV.  both  ships  steering  S.  by  W.  As  I  looked  astern, 
when  I  first  got  my  footing  aloft,  I  caught  sight'  of 
something  like  a  small  puff  of  steam  or  white  smoke, 
rising  a  little  and  blowing  off  on  the  water.  Looking 
intently,  at  the  same  spot,  after  a  short  interval,  an 
other  puff  rose  like  the  former,  satisfying  me,  from  the 
descriptions  I  had  heard,  that  some  sort  of  whale  was 
there,  and  I  instinctively  shouted  : 

"  There  she  blows ! " 

"  Where  away  ?  "  hailed  Mr.  Johnson,  who  was  just 
climbing  the  maintopmast  rigging.  "  O  yes  !  I  see 
him !  sperm  whale,  I  believe — hold  on  a  bit  till  he 
blows  again — yes — thar'  sh'  blo-o-ows  !  large  sperm 
whale !  two  points  off  the  larboard !  Blo-o-ows ! 
headed  to  windward !  " 

"  How  far  off  ? "  shouted  Mr.  Graf  ton,  from  the  deck. 

"  Three  miles  !  'Ere  sh'  blo-o-ows  !  " 


THE    FIRST    WHALE.  63 

By  this  time  the  old  man  was  on  deck,  and  ready  for 
action.  "  Call  all  hands  out,  Mr.  Grafton  !  Hard  a  star 
board,  there !  Stand  by  to  brace  round  the  yards.  Cook! 
get  your  breakfast  down  as  fast  as  you  can.  Keep  the 
run  of  him,  there,  aloft !  Maintop  bowline,  boat  steer 
ers  !  Sure  it's  a  sperm  whale,  eh,  Mr.  Johnson  ?  Stew 
ard  !  give  me  up  the  glass — I  must  make  a  cleet  in 
the  gangway  for  that  glass  soon.  Muster  'em  all  up, 
Mr.  Grafton,  and.  get  the  lines  in  as  fast  as  you  can 
(mounting  the  shearpole).  Sing  out  when  we  head 
right,  Mr.  Johnson  !  Mr.  Grafton,  you'  11  have  to  brace 
sharp  up,  I  guess  (just  going  over  the  maintop).  See 
the  Pandora,  there  ?  O  yes  !  I  see  her  (half  way  up  the 
topmast  rigging).  Confound  him  !  he's  heading  just 
right  to  see  the  whale,  too  !  ('  There  goes  flukes ! ' 
shouted  the  mulatto.)  Yes  !  yes !  I  see  him — just  in  time 
to  see  him  (swinging  his  leg  over  the  topmast  cross- 
trees),  a  noble  fan,  too !  a  buster !  Haul  aboard  that 
maintack  !  We  must  have  that  fellow,  Mr.  Johnson. 
Steady-y !  Keep  her  along  just  full  and  by.  We 
must nt  let  the  Pandora  get  him,  either  /" 

The  Arethusa  bent  gracefully  to  the  breeze,  as, 
braced  sharp  on  the  port  tack,  she  darted  through  the 
water,  as  though  instinctively  snuffing  her  prey.  The 
whale  was  one  of  those  patriarchal  old  bulls,  who  are 
often  found  alone,  and  would  probably  stay  down  more 
than  an  hour  before  he  would  be  seen  again.  Mean 
time,  the  two  ships  were  rapidly  n earing  each  other  ; 
and  the  Pandora's  lookouts  were  not  long  in  discover 
ing  that "  something  was  up,''  as  was  evinced  by  her 
setting  the  main  royal  and  foretopmast  studding-sail, 


64  THE    LOG    Or     THE    ARETHUSA. 

though  they  could  not  possibly  have  seen  the  whale 
yet.  But  the  whale  was  apparently  working  slowly  to 
windward,  and  the  Pandora  coming  with  a  flowing 
sheet,  all  of  which  was  much  in  her  favor.  The  old 
man  remained  aloft,  anxiously  waiting  the  next  rising, 
from  time  to  time  hailing  the  deck  to  know  "  what 
time  it  was  ?"  and  satisfying  himself  that  the  boats 
were  in  readiness,  and  breakfast  served  out  to  those 
who  wanted  it.  As  three  quarters  of  an  hour  passed, 
he  grew  more  anxious  and  fidgety,  shifting  his  legs 
about  in  the  cross  trees,  and  clutching  the  spy-glass  in 
his  nervous  grasp. 

"  Are  you  all  ready,  Mr.  Grafton  ?  " 

"Ay,  ay,  sir,"  answered  the  mate  from  the  maintop, 
where  he  had  mounted  to  get  a  look  at  the  whale 
when  he  should  rise  again. 

"  Let  them  hoist  and  swing  the  boats." 

"  Ay,  ay,  sir." 

"  I  think  I  saw  a  ripple  then,"  said  the  second  mate, 
from  the  topsail  yard  directly  beneath  him. 

"  Where  ?  "  demanded  the  captain. 

"  Four  points  off  the  lee  bow." 

"  O  !  no,  you  didn't,  he  wont  come  there.  He'll 
rise  right  ahead  or  a  little  on  the  weather-bow.  I 
don't  think  he'll  go  much  to  windward — good  gra 
cious  !  see  that  Pandora  come  down  !  She'll  be  right 
in  the  suds  here,  directly!  I  think  we've  run  far 
enough,  eh,  Mr.  Grafton  ?  Haul  the  mainsail  up,  then  ! 
and  square  the  main  yard  ! " 

Silence  for  a  few  minutes  after  this  evolution  was 
performed. 


THE    FIRST    WHALE.  65 

"  He  can't  be  far  off  when  he  comes  up  again.  Look 
at  the  men  old  Worth  has  got  aloft  there,  his  cross- 
trees  swarming,  and  every  rattlin  manned. —  Look 
sharp  !  all  of  ye  !  We  must  see  that  whale  when  he 
first  breaks  water.  That  helm  eased  down  ?  Haul 
the  foresail  up  ?  and  let  the  jib-sheets  flow  a  little 
more.  It  can't  be  possible  that  whale  has  been 
up — no,  we  couldn't  help  seeing  him,  some  of  us — I 
know  'twas  a  sperm  whale.  I  saw  his  fan  ;  besides, 
there's  Mr.  Johnson — best  eyes  in  the  ship.  What 
time  is  it,  there  ?  An  hour  and  ten  minutes  that 
whale  has  been  down — a  long-winded  old  dog  !  We 
shall  have  to  wear  round,  I'm  afraid  we  shall  forge. 
Blo-o-ows  !  right  ahead,  not  one  mile  off  !  Down  there 
and  lower  away !  Now,  Mr.  Grafton,  work  care 
fully — Mr.  Dunham,  too  ;  if  you  don't  strike  this 
rising,  spread  your  chances  well,  and  don't  crowd  each 
other — biit  dont  you  let  the  Pandora  get  Jiim  /" 
The  captain  was  by  this  time  in  the  stern  of  his  own 
boat.  "All  ready,  Mr.  Johnson?  Where's  Old  Jeff 
at  my  midship  oar  ?  O,  here  you  are,  eh  ?  You  aint 
turned  white  yet — lower  away  !  Cooper !  Where's 
Cooper  ?  As  soon  as  we  are  all  clear,  wear  round — • 
Let  run  that  davit  fall? — Wear  round  and  make  a 
short  board — haul  up  your  tackle,  boy.  Keep  to  wind 
ward  all  you  can,  Cooper  !  Pull  a  little  off  the  weather- 
bow,  Mr.  Grafton,  and  then  set  your  sail !  Haul  in 
these  gripes  towing  over  the  quarter —  By  thunder, 
there's  Worth's  boats  all  down  !  coming  with  fair 
wind,  too  !  Out  oars,  lads," 

The  Pandora  had  luffed  to  and  dropped  her  boats  a 

5 


66  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

mile  to  windward,  and  they  were  coming  down  before 
the  breeze,  wing-and-wing,  with  their  paddles  flash 
ing  in  the  sunlight,  and  their  immense  jibs  guyed  out 
on  the  bow-oar  as  studding-sails,  promising  to  stand 
about  an  equal  chance  for  the  whale  with  ourselves. 
The  larboard  boat  to  which  I  belonged  proved  the 
fastest  of  the  three,  and  had  a  little  the  lead.  After 
pulling  a  few  quiet  strokes  to  windward,  Father 
Graf  ton  set  his  sails,  and,  as  he  gave  the  order  to  "  peak 
the  oars  and  take  the  paddles,"  seemed  as  cool  and 
calm  as  when  engaged  in  the  most  ordinary  duty  on 
board.  There  was  no  confusion  or  bustle  in  his  boat, 
but  with  his  practised  eye  fixed  upon  the  huge  sper 
maceti,  he  kept  encouraging  us  in  a  low,  dry  tone,  as 
he  conned  the  steering  oar  with  such  skill,  that  he 
seemed  to  do  it  without  effort. 

"  Now,  lads,  you  face  round  to  paddle,  you  can  all 
see  him.  I  declare,  he's  a  noble  fellow — ninety  bar 
rels  under  his  hide,  if  there's  a  drop.  Bunker,  do  you 
see  that  fellow  ?  he's  got  a  back  like  a  ten-acre  lot — 
paddle  hard,  lads — if  you  miss  him,  go  right  overboard 
yourself,  and  don't  come  up  again — long  and  strong 
stroke,  boys,  on  your  paddles.  See  that  boat  coming? 
that's  Ray,  the  second  mate  of  the  Pandora — three  or 
four  more  spouts,  and  we'll  have  him — he's  ours  sure  ! 
they  can't  get  here  in  time — scratch  hard,  boys  !  don't 
hit  your  paddles  on  the  gunwale.  Stand  up,  Bunker, 
and  get  your  jibtack  clear  !  Don't  let  them  '  gaily  ' 
you,  if  they  shout  in  that  boat." 

"All  right  !"  said  his  boatsteerer,  with  his  eager 
hand  resting  on  the  iron  pole.  "  Never  fear,  sir." 


THE  FIRST    WHALE.  6? 

"  Paddle  hard,  lads,  a  stroke  or  two.  That's  right, 
Bunker.  Keep  cool,  my  boy.  Keep  cool,  and  make 
sure  of  him." 

A  wild  and  prolonged  shout  rang  on  the  air  from 
six  sturdy  pairs  of  lungs  in  the  Pandora's  waist-boat,  as 
Mr.  Ray,  seeing  that  he  was  baffled,  let  fly  his  sheets 
and  rounded  to,  a  ship's  length  to  windward.  It  was 
too  late,  however. 

"  All  right,"  said  Father  Grafton,  in  the  same  dry, 
quiet  tone,  as  before.  "  Hold  your  hand,  Bunker. 
Hold  your  hand,  boy,  till  you're  past  his  hump — an 
other  shoot,  lads — way  .enough,  in  paddles.  Now, 
Bunker  !  give  it  to  him  !  Down  to  your  oar,  the  rest. 
Give  kirn  t'other  one,  boy  !  Well  done  !  both  irons  to 
the  hitches.  Hold  water,  all !  Bear  a  hand,  now,  and 
roll  up  that  sail.  Wet  line,  Tom  !  wet  line  !  Where's 
your  bucket  ?  All  ready  with  your  sail,  Bunker  ? 
Let  her  come  then — all  right.  Come  aft  here,  now, 
and  let  me  get  a  dig  at  him." 

The  line  was  spinning  roim.l  the  loggerhead  with  a 
whizzing  noise,  and  a  smoking  heat,  as  the  huge  levia 
than,  stung  to  the  quick,  darted  down  into  the  depths 
of  the  ocean.  Bunker  threw  on  the  second  round  turn 
to  check  him,  and  jamming  the  bight  of  the  line  over 
the  stern  sheets,  watched  it  carefully  as  it  flew  through 
his  grasp  ;  while  the  mate  cleared  his  lance,  and  got 
ready  to  renew  the  attack.  Every  moment  his  anxiety 
increased  as  he  kept  turning  his  head,  and  looking  at 
the  tub  of  line,  rapidly  settling,  as  the  whale  ran  it 
out.  "  I  declare,  I  believe  he'll  take  all  my  line.  Black 
smith  !  pass  along  the  drug !  Check  him  hard,  Bunker ! " 


68  THE    LOG    OF    THE   ARETHUSA. 

then,  seeing  the  other  boats  near  at  hand,  he  opened 
his  throat,  and,  for  the  first  time,  we  learned  the  power 
of  Father  Grafton's  lungs. 

"  Spring  hard,  Mr.  Dunham  !  I  want  your  line  ! 
Cast  off  your  craft,  and  stand  by  to  throw  your  line  to 
me  !  Spring  hard  !  Do  !  " 

The  ash  sticks  in  the  waist-boat  were  doing  their 
best,  as  the  loud  "  Ay,  ay  !  "  was  borne  back  o'er  the 
water  from  Dunham,  while  the  old  man  could  be  seen 
in  the  rear  of  the  picture,  wildly  straining  every  nerve 
to  be  "  in  at  the  death,"  and  heaving  desperately  at 
the  after  oar,  with  his  hat  off,-  his  hair  flying  loosely  in 
the  breeze,  and  his  whole  frame  writhing  with  eager 
excitement.  Our  line  was  going,  going  ;  already  there 
was  but  one  flake  in  the  tub,  when  the  waist-boat 
ranged  up  on  our  quarter,  and  Fisher,  with  the  coil 
gathered  in  his  hand,  whirled  it  over  his  head,  making 
ready  for  a  cast.  At  this  instant,  the  strain  was 
suddenly  relieved,  and  the  line  slacked  up. 

"  Never  mind  ! "  roared  Mr.  Grafton.  "  Hold  on 
Fisher!  All  right,  he's  coming!  Never  mind  your 
line,  Mr.  Dunham,  he's  coming  up  !  pull  ahead  and  get 
fast !  Get  a  lance  at  him  if  you  can  !  Haul  line,  us  ! 
Face  round  here,  all  of  ye,  and  haul  line  !  Careful, 
Bunker,  about  coiling  down  !  He'll  be  up  now,  in  a 
minute,  haul  lively  !  " 

The  waist-boat  had  shot  ahead  under  a  fresh  im 
pulse  of  her  oars,  and  the  captain  came  drawing  up 
abreast  of  the  fast  boat. 

"Are  you  well  fast,  Mr.  Grafton  ?  " 

"  Ay,  ay,  sir  ;  both  irons  chock  to  the  socket/' 


THE    FIRST    WHALE.  69 

"That's  the  talk!  Got  'most  all  your  line,  hasn't 
he." 

"  Yes,  sir." 

"  Well,  gather  in  as  fast  as  you  can.  Spring  hard, 
us  !  Spring  !  I  want  to  grease  a  larice  in  that  fish  ! 
There  he  is  up !  "  he  shouted  as  the  tortured  monster 
broke  water,  shoving  his  whole  head  out  in  his  agony, 
and  started  to  windward. 

Fisher  had  bent  on  his  craft  again,  and  was  about 
two  ships'  lengths  from  the  whale  when  he  rose. 

"  Haul  quick,  my  lads  !  "  said  the  mate,  "  and  get 
this  stray  line  in  !  There's  Mr.  Dunham  going  on, 
and  the  old  man  will  be  with  him  in  a  minute.  There, 
he  brings  to  ! "  as  the  whale  suddenly  stopped  short 
in  his  mad  career,  and  lay  swashing  up  and  down,  as 
if  rallying  his  strength  for  a  fresh  effort. 

"  There's  '  stand  up  '  in  the  waist-boat !  There  he 
darts  !  Hurrah  !  two  boats  fast !  Haul  lively,  us, 
and  get  this  line  in  !  " 

The  whale  seemed  staggered  by  this  accumulation 
of  cold  iron  in  his  system,  and  lay  wallowing  in  the 
trough  of  the  waves.  It  was  a  critical  moment  for 
him  ;  for  Mr.  Dunham  was  getting  his  lance  on  the 
half-cock,  ready  for  darting,  and,  as  the  whale  sud 
denly  "milled  short  round"  to  pass  across  the  head 
of  his  boat,  the  young  man  saw  his  advantage,  and 
cried  : 

"  Pull  ahead !  Pull  ahead,  and  we'll  get  a  '  set '  on 
him  !  Lay  forward,  Fisher  !  Lay  forward  hard,  my 
lad !  right  on  for  his  fin  !  Pull  ahead !  So,  way 
enough — hold  water,  all ; "  and,  driven  by  a  strong  arm, 


7O  THE    LOG    OF    THE    AKETHUSA. 

the  sharp  lance  entered  his  "  life,"  its  bright  shank 
disappearing  till  the  pole  brought  it  up. 

"Hold  her  so!"  said  the  second  mate.  "Way 
enough !  just  hold  her  so  till  he  rises  again !"  as  the 
whale  hollowed  his  back  under  the  sea,  now  crimson 
ed  with  his  life-tide,  and  again  rising,  received  the 
lance  anew  in  his  vitals  ;  but  the  first  "  set "  was 
enough,  and  the  gush  of  clotted  blood  from  his  spira 
cle  told  how  effectually  it  had  done  its  work. 

"  There  "  said  Father  Graf  ton,  who  had  just  got  his 
line  gathered  in,  and  was  ready  to  renew  th-  Assault, 
"  there's  the  red  flag  flying  at  his  nose  !  Blacksmith, 
we  may  as  well  put  up  our  lance,  we  sha'n't  want  it 
to-day.  Well  done,  Mr.  Dunham  !  Thick  as  tar  the 
first  lance  !  Hold  on  line,  Bunker  !  heave  on  a  turn  ! " 
as  the  whale,  making  a  dying  effort,  started  up  to  wind 
ward,  passing  among  the  Pandora's  boats  within  easy 
hail. 

"  Give  us  your  warp,  Pitman,  if  you  want  a  tow," 
said  Bunker  in  passing  to  Mr.  Ray's  boatsteerer. 

"  Every  dog  has  his  day,"  growled  Pitman,  in  reply. 

"  Yes.  Come  aboard  to-morrow  and  I'll  give  you  a 
•'  scrap  '  for  luck." 

The  whale  went  in  his  "  flurry,"  and  turned  up 
under  the  stern  of  the  Pandora,  as  she  luffed  to  for 
her  boats  ;  but  Captain  Worth  could  not  afford  to  lose 
the  breeze  long,  and,  by  the  time  the  last  boat  was  on 
the  cranes,  his  helm  was  up  and  his  mizzen-topsail 
shivering.  The  old  ship  fell  off  to  her  former  course, 
and  setting  her  royal  and  studding  sails,  left  her  more 
fortunate  consort  "alone  in  her  glory." 


THE    FIRST   WHALE.  7 1 

Captain  Upton  had  no  occasion  to  "grease  his 
lance,"  but  seeing  that  the  work  was  done,  and  the 
victory  won,  made  the  best  of  his  way  on  board.  He 
made  a  short  stretch,  fetching  to  windward  of  us,  and 
then  stood  along  under  easy  sail,  till  Mr.  Grafton, 
having  "  cut  a  hole  "  and  got  his  line  all  clear  for  run 
ning,  set  a  waif  for  the  ship.  She  then  ran  down  for 
us,  and  luffing  to  handsomely  with  the  head  yards 
aback,  and  the  foretopsail  on  the  cap,  the  line  was 
"streamed,"  and  led  into  the  "  chock."  The  jib  being 
run  down,  and  the  helm  lashed  a-lee,  so  as  com 
pletely  to  deaden  the  ship's  way,  the  whale  was  hauled 
down  to  the  ship,  with  the  inspiring  and  time-honored 
chorus  of  "  Cheerly,  men  !  "  the  burden  being  led  off 
by  Old  Jeff ;  and  at  ten  o'clock,  the  monster,  who 
when  the  sun  rose  appeared  like  a  monarch  of  the  deep 
sporting  in  all  the  consciousness  of  sovereign  power, 
lay  securely  chained  up  alongside  the  good  ship  Are- 
thusa. 

"  Well,  Bunker,"  said  the  old  man  to  the  blushing 
young  boatsteerer,  "  you  plugged  this  fellow  solid,  at 
any  rate,  if  you  never  do  another.  The  Pandora's 
crew  tried  to  gaily  you,  didn't  they  ?  " 

"  Yes,  sir,"  said  Bunker,  "  either  me  or  the  whale, 
I  don't  know  which.  But  they  were  too  late  with  their 
yells." 

"Well,  I  don't  know  as  I  can  blame  Mr.  Ray," 
said  the  captain.  "  I  suppose  he  thought,  if  he  could 
gaily  you  of  the  whale,  he  would  stand  as  good  a 
chance  as  any  of  us  next  rising,  as  there  is  no  telling, 


72  THE   LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

with  any  certainty,  where  a  gallied  *  whale  will  come 

"P." 

"  I  don't  think  Worth  feels  in  very  good-humor 
to-day,"  continued  the  old  man,  turning  to  Mr.  Graf- 
ton.  "  I'm  sure  I  shouldn't,  if  he  had  got  this  whale 
right  under  my  nose.  But  it's  our  turn  to  crow  to- 
day,  and  perhaps  at  another  time  it  may  be  his.  I 
was  mighty  afraid  at  one  time  he  would  take  all  your 
line  before  we  could  get  to  you.  And  when  I  saw 
the  strain  slack  up  suddenly,  I  was  more  anxious  than 
ever,  for  I  feared  you  were  loose  from  him.  But  it's 
all  right  as  it  is.  Couldn't  be  better — and  the  weather 
is  promising  for  taking  care  of  him.  The  new  ship 
will  get  her  christening  now,  and  she  will  work  all 
the  better  for  being  greased.  It  is  too  late  to  ship 
the  oil  home,  for  I  shall  not  put  back  to  the  Western 
Islands  now." 

*  This  word  "  gallied  "  is  in  constant  use  among  whalemen  in  the 
sense  of  frightened  or  confused.  It  is  perhaps,  a  corruption  of  the 
obsolete  verb,  gallcnv,  to  be  found  in  old  writers.  Thus  Shakespeare 
has  in  King  Lear,  "  The  wrathful  skies  gallow  the  deep  wanderers  of 
the  dark." 


CHAPTER  VII. 

"  CUTTING   IN." 

THE  necessary  operations  on  the  new  ship's  rigging 
had  somewhat  encroached  upon  the  progress  of  other 
duties,  connected  with  the  whaling  gear,  during  the 
few  days  since  we  left  home.  The  cutting  pendants 
were  to  be  got  over  the  masthead,  not  yet  having  been 
sent  aloft ;  the  falls  were  new  and  wiry  ;  but  few  cut 
ting-spades  rigged  or  ground,  and  the  best  part  of  the 
afternoon  was  consumed  in  getting  all  things  in  readi 
ness  for  cutting  ;  and,  as  there  was  every  prospect  of 
fine  weather,  it  was  determined  not  to  hook  on  until 
the  next  morning.  Boat's  crew-watches  were  set,  as 
is  common  when  lying  under  short  sail,  boatsteerers 
being  in  charge  of  the  deck  by  turns,  each  with  his 
own  boat's  crew,  thus  making  three,  or  in  large  ships, 
four  watches.  This  was  a  grand  occasion  for  yarning 
in  the  first  watch,  as  every  one  was  up,  looking  at  the 
leviathan  alongside,  swashing  with  every  heave  of  the 
sea,  and  tugging  at  the  stout  fluke  chain  as  the  rise  of 
the  ship  brought  a  strain  upon  it  ;  as  though  still 
instinct  with  life  and  impatient  of  his  bonds. 

"  Well,  Jeff,"  said  the  ebony  dctoor,  as  he  stood 
leaning  over  the  rail  after  having  finished  his  work  for 
the  night,  "  how  much  ile  you  tink  dat  whale  make  ?  " 


74  THE   LOG    OF   THE    ARETHUSA. 

"  That  whale,"  returned  Jeff,  measuring  his  dimen 
sions  with  his  eye,  with  a  look  of  most  profound  sa 
gacity,  "  that  whale  will  stow  down  a  hund'ed  barrels, 
if  we  save  him  clean." 

"Save  him  clean?  Save  him  fast  enough,"  said  the 
cook.  "  Fine  weather." 

"  Yes,  'tis  now,  but  you  don't  know  how  long  it 
will  be  so,"  said  Old  Jeff,  who  was  in  one  of  his 
"  blue-lights  "  humors.  "  You  don't  know  what  the 
weather'll  be  to-morrow." 

"  Guess  it'll  be  good  enough." 

"  You've  got  no  business  to  guess.  Who  shipped 
any  such  black  ghost  as  you  to  guess  about  the 
weather?" 

"  Black  ghost,  eh  !  You  know  what  the  pot  called 
the  kettle,  Jeff?  Yah  !  yah  !  You  aint  more'n  a  half- 
price  nigger,  nohow.  You  wouldn't  fetch  more'n 
fifty  dollars  in  Kentucky,  if  you  be  big.  Sh'  think 
you  might  be  big,  too  ;  you  eats  'bout  six  men's 
allowance.  Look  o'  me,  now  ;  I  don't  eat  nothin' 
hardly." 

"  You've  no  business  to  eat  anything.  The  cook's 
always  'lowed  to  live  on  the  smell." 

"  Smell,  eh  !  'spects  dats  de  reason  dey  always 
ships  black  man  for  cook.  Carry  his  own  smell  wid. 
him  eh  ?  Not  strong  like  Samson  but  like  billy-goat, 
Now,  you  see,  Jeff,  you'm  strong  bofe  ways." 

"  Am  I  ? ''  said  Jeff,  seizing  the  unfortunate  doctor 
by  the  leg  and  the  back  of  his  neck,  and  holding  him 
suspended  over  the  whale  in  his  Herculean  grasp. 
"  I've  a  good  mind  to  give  you  an  overboard  bunk 


75 

on  this  whale,  just  to  show  you  the  difference  be 
tween  a  <  ook's  berth  and  a  boatsteerer's." 

"  O  Lord  !  "  gasped  the  cook,  when  he  was  released, 
and  once  more  found  soundings  with  his  feet  on  the 
deck,  "you'm  pretty  strong  one  way,  anyhow.  Well, 
now,  Jeff,  how  much  did  you  ever  see  a  whale  make  ? " 

"  A  hund'ed  and  eighty  barrels." 

"  What !  a  sparm  whale  ?  " 

"  Didn't  say  nothin'  bout  sparm  whale.  No,  a  right 
whale  ;  the  first  voyage  I  went  on  Pattygoney." 

"'O  !  I  mean  a  sparm  whale." 

"  Well,  I  seen  one  make  a  hund'ed  and  fifteen  bar 
rels,  that's  the  most.  Now,  here  comes  Cooper.  Got 
his  pipe  loaded,  too.  I'll  bet  he's  seen  bigger  one 
than  that.  Ask  him  now." 

The  boys  began  to  rally  to  a  focus  along  the  star 
board-waist,  as  they  saw  the  cooper  coming  forward. 

"  Cooper,"  said  I,  "  where's  your  fiddle  to-night  ? 
Are  you  going  to  fetch  her  up  ?  " 

"  No,  guess  not  to-night.  Plenty  of  work  for  all  of 
us  to-morrow  without  shaking  a  leg  over  night." 

"  Yes,  plenty  of  work  and  no  grog,"  growled  Bur- 
ley.  "  That's  the  worst  of  these  temperance  ships. 
They  expect  a  man  to  work  like  a  clog,  and  give  him 
nothing  to  warm  his  heart.  If  men  stood  up  for  their 
rights,  they'd  have  it.  A  man's  entitled  to  two  glasses 
a  day,  anyhow." 

"  Not  without  he  ships  for  it,"  said  Jeff. 

"  Yes,  I  say  he  is,"  said  the  sea-lawyer. 

"How's  that?" 

"  Why,  by  the  natural  rights  of  man." 


76  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

"  What  the  plague  do  you  call  the  natural  rights  of 
man  ? "  said  the  cooper,  among  whose  crooked  traits 
intemperance  was  not  included.  "  I  don't  want  to  see 
grog  served  out  in  any  ship  where  I  am." 

"  Well,  I  wish  the  ould  man  would  jist  ask  me  to 
take  a  dhrop  wid  him,"  said  Farrell.  "  Of  course,  I'd 
refuse  ;  but,  then,  'twould  be  doin'  the  nate  thing  on 
his  part." 

"  I've  seen  so  much  of  the  bad  effects  of  liquor,"  said 
the  cooper,  "  that  I  don't  want  to  be  shipmates  with  it 
at  all.  It  does  a  man  no  good  in  the  long  run.  Some 
times,  it's  true,  he  can  get  steam  up,  and  work  faster 
for  a  short  time,  but  he  feels  all  the  worse  after  the 
liquor  dies  in  him.  In  such  a  case  as  cutting  a  whale 
in  bad  weather,  where  you  want  to  gain  time,  it's  con- 
venient  to  have  some  ;  but  I  think  it  does  more  harm 
in  the  long  run  than  will  balance  these  temporary 
benefits.  The  trouble  is,  human  nature  is  weak,  and 
it  isn't  every  shipmaster  that  can  have  charge  of  it 
without  crooking  his  own  elbow  too  often.  Then 
again,  all  men  can't  stand  it  alike ;  and  though  some 
of  us  might  bear  two  glasses  well  enough,  others  will 
get  drunk  and  make  difficulty  on  the  same  quantity,  for^ 
of  course,  you  must  serve  all  hands  alike.  We  haven't 
all  got  systems  like  old  Captain  Harper,  in  the  Deu 
calion.  He  could  drink  a  deck-bucketful  of  New 
England  rum,  and  stand  up  under  it  and  back  it  round. 
I've  seen  him  do  it  many  a  time." 

"  Now,  Cooper,"  said  I,  "  go  it  now,  you've  got 
started." 

"  Maybe  you  don't  believe  it,  youngster,"  said  the 


77 

cooper,  shaking  his  immense  beard  with  the  gravity  oi 
a  sage.  "But  you  have  seen  very  little  of  the  world 
yet.  What  I've  seen,  I  know" 

"  Sh'  think  he'd  burn  hisself  all  up,"  said  the  cook, 
extending  his  mouth  in  a  grin,  till  the  upper  part  of 
his  head  formed  a  peninsula. 

"  Had  no  more  effect  than  pouring  it  into  a  leaky 
cask,"  continued  the  cooper,  who  had  now  mounted 
his  hobby.  "Perfect  salamander!  I  always  believed 
he  was  coppered  inside.  Why,  I've  seen  that  old  man 
make  many  a  meal  off  of  red  peppers,  and  wash  them 
down  with  raw  brandy." 

"Why  not  say  aquafortis?"  I  suggested. 

"  No,  I  don't  want  to  deviate  from  the  truth,"  said 
the  conscientious  cooper.  "  I  don't  mean  aquafortis, 
but  I  mean  good  Cognac  brandy.  Drink  a  potful  of 
boiling  tea  right  out  of  the  cook's  copper,  just  as 
natural  as  I'd  take  a  drink  of  water  from  the  scuttle 
butt." 

"  Dere,  Cooper,  dat'll  do,"  said  the  astonished  Afri 
can.  "  He  must  been  some  relation  to  dat  Sally 
Mander,  or  somebody  else  wuss'n  her.  I  was  going 
to  ask  you  how  much  you  ever  see  a  sparm  whale 
make?  Jeff  says  he  seen  one  make  a  hund'ed  and 
fifteen  barrels." 

"  That  isn't  much,"  said  the  cooper,  quietly.  "  When 
I  was  in  the  old  Bajazet,  we  got  a  sperm  whale  in 
sight  of  French  Rock,  and  it  came  on  to  blow,  and  we 
had  an  ugly  job  to  cut  him.  We  lost  all  his  case  ;  it 
got  pretty  old  and  mellow  alongside,  and  '  shot '  before 
we  got  hooked  on  it  to.  We  got  the  junk  in  by  cut 


78  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

ting  it  in  two  pieces,  for  the  old  man  wouldn't  risk  the 
mainmast  to  lift  the  whole  on  it.  Well,  we  saved  a 
hundred  and  sixty-four  barrels,  and  I  suppose  we  lost 
about  forty." 

"  Tell  that  for  anybody  to  believe  it,  Cooper  ?"  asked 
Okl  Jeff.  "  I  can't  get  up  tackles  enough  to  h'ist  in 
the  yard.  It's  heavier  than  that  junk  was." 

"  Took  the  gauges  of  every  cask  myself,"  said  the 
cooper. 

"  Must  be  you  made  a  mistake  in  addin'  on'  em  up. 
How  long  was  that  whale,  now,  on  a  guess  ?  " 

"  Well,  I  don't  know;  the  Bajazet  was  a  ship  of 
three  hundred  and  fifty  tons,  about  the  length  of  this 
one,  I  suppose ;  We  brought  the  fluke-chain  in  at  the 
hawse  hole,  and  hauled  it  short  up  and  down,  and  the 
mate  had  his  cutting-stage  over  the  stern  to  cut  around 
the  nib  end  ;  the  head  worked  in  under  the  counter 
sometimes  and  bothered  him  !  " 

"  And  did  ye's  have  much  throuble  to  kill  that 
chap  ?  "  asked  Farrell. 

"  None  at  all ;  laid  like  an  island,  you  might  have 
thrown  a  whole  blacksmith's  shop  into  him." 

"  Do  they  often  get  whales  as  easily  as  we  got  this 
one  to-day  ? "  I  inquired. 

"  Yes,  a  great  many  are  taken  as  easy  as  that.  But 
not  always,  as  you'll  find  out  by  and  by ;  for  there's  all 
kinds  of  manoeuvres  with  whales,  and  hardly  any  two 
of  'ern  will  act  just  alike." 

"  Did  you  ever  see  any  very  bad  ones  taken  ?  "  I  in 
quired. 

"  Well1— no— not   very  bad,"   returned  the  cooper, 


"CUTTING  IN.  79 

evasively;  for,  much  as  he  felt  disposed  to  draw  the 
long  bow  on  this  sonorous  string,  he  was  by  no  means 
regardless  of  the  interest  of  the  voyage,  and  well  knew 
the  bad  policy  of  telling  frightful  yarns  to  green 
hands  concerning  fighting  whales.  It  would  be  time 
enough  for  that  when  they  had  acquired  some  expe 
rience,  and  seen  a  few  ugly  whales  themselves.  He 
was  not  to  be  drawn  out  on  this  subject. 

"Well,  Cooper,  how  moosh  you  tink  dis  one  he 
make  ? "  inquired  Manoel. 

"About  ninety  barrels." 

"  Well,  how  moosh  my  part  ?  '' 

"What's  your  lay?" 

"Hun'n  forty." 

"Well,  about  two-thirds  of  a  barrel." 

"  I  s'pose  you  get  'bout  two  bar-r-r-eels.  Diabo! 
you  make  too  moosh  mon-ee,  Cooper." 

"Got  half  a  dozen  mouths  to  feed,"  returned  the 
cooper.  "But  that's  nothing  to  do  with  turning  in  ; 
my  pipe's  out,  and  I  guess  I'll  turn  flukes,  for  the  old 
man  will  have  us  all  out  at  daylight,  and  there'll  be  no 
cats  but  what  catch  mice  to-morrow." 

Following  his  example,  the  boys  all  dropped  off 
to  their  bunks,  till  only  the  watch  were  left,  and  they 
were  stretched  round  on  the  windlass,  or  wherever 
they  could  find  quarters,  for  the  deck  was  lumbered 
with  casks,  cutting-falls,  hooks,  toggils,  and  various 
gear  necessary  for  securing  the  blubber  from  the 
whale. 

The  weather  continued  fine  through  the  night,  and 
at  the  first  peep  of  daylight  Captain  Upton  was  out 


8O  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

and  stirring.  "  Who's  got  the  watch  here  ?  Call  all 
hands  out,  and  overboard  hook  !  I  want  that  head  off 
before  breakfast.  Clap  on  there,  the  watch,  and  haul 
out  this  starboard  guy  a  little  more  !  Whose  over 
board  is  it  ?  " 

"  Mine,  Sir  !  "  answered  Bunker,  who  was  equipping 
himself  in  an  old  short-sleeved  shirt,  a  relic  of  "  last 
voyage,"  and  an  old  pair  of  woollen  drawers,  prepara 
tory  to  jumping  over  on  the  whale  to  put  in  the  blub 
ber-hook,  a  part  of  the  boatsteerer's  duty  far  more 
desirable  within  the  tropics  than  in  higher  latitudes, 
and  especially  to  be  eschewed  on  a  cold,  rugged  morn 
ing  in  the  Arctic  regions. 

"  Over  hook  !  "  shouted  Father  Grafton,  as  soon  as 
the  crew  began  to  muster  along.  "  Bear  a  hand,  boys, 
and  stand  by  the  windlass  !  Overhaul  your  fall  well ! 
Now  then,  Bunker,  where  are  you  ?  Now's  your 
chance — smooth  time  !  Here,  Blacksmith,  you  belong 
to  the  hold  gang.  I  shall  put  you  in  the  waist  gang, 
too.  Stay  here  in  the  gangway,  and  lend  a  hand  with 
the  boatsteerers." 

The  hook  was  soon  in,  and  Mr.  Grafton  in  his  stage 
under  the  main  chains  with  a  long  spade,  the  second 
mate  in  the  forward  stage  with  another.  The  old  man 
had  become  ubiquitous,  and  was  in  twenty  places  at 
one  and  the  same  time. 

"  Here,  Kelly,  I  shall  appoint  you  captain  of  the 
scoop-net.  Get  a  strap-tub  along  here  ready  to  sling 
by  the  backstays,  and  get  your  net  all  ready.  When 
they  cut  round  the  head,  stand  by  to  save  all  the 
slivers,  and  if  you  let  a  piece  of  fat  go  astern  as  big  as 
a  hall-dollar,  I  shall  stop  it  out  of  your  lay.  Hoist 


"CUTTING    IN."  8 1 

away  that  fall !  Heave  the  windlass  some  of  ye,  and 
get  the  slack  in !  Here,  Collins,  go  aft  there,  and  stay 
with  the  carpenter  to  turn  grindstone.  Keep  your 
ears  peeled  for  the  word  '  sharp  spade ! '  from  over 
the  side,  and  don't  make  them  sing  out  a  dozen  times 
or  I  shall  be  hunting  you  up  myself.  Boatsteerers ! 
get  the  short  spades  all  ready  to  use  in  the  waist? 
That's  right.  Hook  take  well,  Mr.  Graf  ton  ?  Here* 
pick  up  that  monkey-rope,  Fisher,  and  keep  it  out  of  the 
grease.  Heave  away  that  windlass  ?  Where  are  you, 
Jeff,  with  the  song  ?  Open  your  throat — Mr.  Dunham, 
be  careful  and  don't  cut  your  blanketpiece  too  wide 
Sharp  spade  into  the  after  stage !  Mr.  Johnson,  let 
me  whet  this  boarding-knife  for  you.  I  used  to  be  a 
good  hand  at  it.  Avast  heaving,  there  !  Keep  your 
ears  open,  and  mind  the  word  !  " 

All  circumstances  being  favorable,  the  head  was  cut 
off  before  breakfast,  and  the  body  all  in  the  blubber- 
room  by  nine  o'clock,  Captain  Upton  driving  a  spade 
into  it  with  a  perfect  gusto,  and  slashing  it  into  horse 
pieces  almost  as  fast  as  it  was  stowed  in  the  hatchway. 
The  windlass  went  round  "  slip  slop "  to  the  lively 
strains  chanted  by  Old  Jeff,  and  chorused  by  all  hands  in 
various  keys,  making  the  clear  air  vocal  with  discord. 
I  made  considerable  progress  in  the  technicalities  of 
"  Board  O  !"  and  "In  strap  and  toggle  !  "  as  well  as 
in  the  equally  important  mystery  of  preserving  my 
aplomb  on  the  greasy  deck,  having  been  on  my  beam 
ends  only  twice  during  the  whole  operation.  To  the 
startling  hail  from  the  old  man,  "  What  are  you  doing 
down  on  deck  ?  That's  my  place  !  "  I  made  no  aud- 

6 


82  THE    LOG   OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

ible  reply  but  a  laugh  ;  but  mentally  responded,  that 
if  that  were  the  old  man's  place,  he  was  quite  welcome 
to  keep  it. 

The  heaviest  work  was  to  come  in  getting  the  junk 
inboard.  It  was  roused  forward  into  the  waist,  and 
after  considerable  "  overhauling  "  and  "  rounding  up," 
and  some  hard  service  for  Bunker  in  getting  a  chain 
strap  through  the  "junk,"  it  was  at  last  cut  from  the 
"case"  and  fairly  hung  in  the  tackles.  All  hands 
went  to  the  windlass;  the  waist  gang,  the  third  and 
second  mates  found  room  with  the  rest ;  even  Father 
Grafton  lent  a  hand,  and  encouraged  the  others  to  lay 
out  their  strength  on  the  bars.  The  captain  again 
pervaded  the  whole  deck,  glancing  anxiously  aloft  at 
his  masthead  pendants  and  tacklefalls  to  see  how  they 
bore  the  immense  strain,  and  from  time  to  time  break 
ing  forth  in  a  sort  of  exhortation,  half-command,  half- 
entreaty,  "  Heave  hard,  men  !  Heave  and  raise  him  ! 
Few  squares  more  and  we'll  have  him ! " 

The  good  cordage  of  the  falls  groaned  under  the 
tension,  as  each  ropeyarn  seemed  to  yield  a  little  to 
assist  the  rest,  and  the  Arethusa  heeled  lower  and 
lower  at  each  additional  "  downpawls!  "  of  the  wind 
lass,  till  her  starboard  plankshear  was  but  little  above 
the  surface  of  the  water.  Slowly  but  steadily,  by 
almost  imperceptible  degrees,  the  ponderous  junk  rose 
from  its  watery  bed,  its  scarred  black  skin  showing,  in 
the  ragged  furrows  and  white  streaks  on  its  surface 
the  marks  of  many  a  shock  received  in  angry  encoun 
ters  with  other  sea  monsters,  and  the  mingled  oil  and 
water  streaming  at  every  pore  and  running  in  a  gush 


"CUTTING    IN."  83 

from  the  hole  where  the  chain-strap  was  cutting  and 
jamming  into  the  fat  under  the  fearful  strain.  The 
mainmast-head  itself  could  be  seen  to  "  give  "  sensibly 
to  the  weight,  and  the  larboard  main-shrouds  to  stiffen 
like  bars  of  iron. 

"  Heave,  boys  !  Square  or  two  more  ! "  said  the  cap 
tain,  as  the  mighty  mass  began  to  cant  inboard.  "  That's 
lively !  Downpawls  again  !  That  watchtackle  ready 
boatsteerers  ?  High  enough  !  Lay  aft  here,  and  get 
this  tackle  ready  !  There  he  swings  lower  !  Lower 
away  !  Hook  on  and  rouse  him  aft !  What  time  is  it  ? 
Slide  him  well  aft,  Mr.  Grafton,  out  of  the  way ! 
Steward !  pass  up  my  quadrant  ?  We'll  get  dinner, 
Mr.  Grafton,  before  we  sling  the  case." 

"  An'  sure,"  said  Farrell,  as  he  came  sliding  and 
tumbling  aft  with  the  rest,  to  haul  the  tackle,  "  and  is 
that  his  head,  now  ? " 

"  Head  ?  no  !"  growled  Old  Jeff,  "  that's  only  a  small 
piece  of  it." 

The  other  "  small  piece  "  was  hooked  on  immedi 
ately  after  dinner,  and  after  another  struggle  at  the 
windlass  brakes  was  raised  half  out  of  water,  and  sus 
pended  in  the  tackles  with  the  "  root  end "  at  the 
plankshear,  for  baling.  A  block  and  whip  were  rig 
ged  over  it  and  we  now  cleared  up  the  mystery  of  a 
certain  long  vessel  of  peculiar  shape,  which  we  had 
seen  the  cooper  making  a  few  days  before,  and  which 
that  worthy  had  solemnly  assured  us  was  a  sine  qua  non 
in  navigating  the  ship ;  the  sun  and  moon  being 
brought  down  with  a  sextant  till  their  images  could 
be  seen  in  contact  at  the  bottom  of  the  bucket.  We 


84  THE    LOG  OF   THE    ARETHUSA. 

were  lost  in  admiration  as  load  after  load  of  spermaceti 
was  "whipped"  out  of  the  "case,"  and  discharged 
into  tubs  placed  ready  to  receive  it,  and  found  great 
amusement  in  being  set  to  work  to  pull  to  pieces,  by 
hand,  the  fibrous  part  of  the  head  matter,  and  squeeze 
it  out  ready  for  the  pots.  We  contrived  ingeniously 
to  get  saturated  with  oil  from  head  to  foot,  to  the 
great  enjoyment  of  Mr.  Dunham,  who  protested  we 
had  already  appropriated  our  lays  of  this  whale,  and 
vowed  he  would  try  out  all  our  duds  when  the  fare 
was  over. 

"  Let's,  see  Cooper,"  said  the  fun-loving  second 
mate,  "  you  didn't  save  the  case  of  that  big  whale  I 
heard  you  telling  about  ?" 

"In  the  old  Bajazet  ?     No,  sir  ;  I  wish  we  had." 

"  How  much  do  you  suppose  it  .would  have  made?" 

"  From  thirty  to  forty  barrels." 

"  That's  nothing,"  said  Mr.  Dunham.  "  We  saw  a 
Sydney  whaler  last  voyage  that  baled  sixty  barrels 
from  a  case  not  as  big  as  this  one  in  the  tackles." 

"  How  could  he  do  that  ? "  demanded  the  cooper, 
innocently. 

"  Hooked  it  nib  end  up,  and  cut  chock  through  the 
root.  Baled  salt  water  a  couple  of  hours  before  he 
found  it  out." 

The  cooper  turned  away,  and  became  suddenly  in 
dustrious  with  his  hammer  and  driver,  to  drown  the 
roar  of  laughter  that  saluted  him  from  all  quarters. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

BOILING. — CUTTING    THE    LINE. — DUTCH    COURAGE. 

"  MAN    OVERBOARD." 

THE  "  case  having  been  stripped  of  its  oleaginous 
treasures,  was  cut  adrift,  and  the  Arethusa,  with  the 
yards  again  trimmed  to  the  breeze,  stood  on  her  course 
to  the  southward.  The  "  junk  "  was  then  cut  up  and 
thrown  into  casks,  to  save  all  the  oil  that  was  con 
tinually  oozing  from  it,  and  the  fires  were  started  for 
boiling.  "  Try-watches  "  were  set  at  night,  by  divid 
ing  the  time  into  two  equal  portions,  each  watch 
taking  the  whole  five  or  six  hours  on  one  stretch.  The 
Portuguese  Manoel  and  myself  were  appointed  to 
work  in  the  blubber-room,  which  is,  perhaps,  the  best 
station  in  trying  out,  as  the  fortunate  incumbent  has 
but  one  department  to  attend  to,  and  being  under 
deck,  is  not  exposed  to  the  weather.  Besides,  he  is 
much  of  the  time  "  out  of  sight  out  of  mind,  "  and,  by 
catting  fast  for  an  hour  or  two,  may  gain  upon  his 
work  so  as  to  find  time  for  "  slants  "  of  sleep  or  "  cat 
naps,"  so  termed,  till  roused  again  by  the  cry  of  "  horse- 
pieces  !  "  at  the  hatchway.  Now  and  then,  Father 
Grafton,  in  going  the  rounds,  would  stoop  over  the 
hatchway,  and  peer  in  between  decks,  witft  a  call  to 
the  sleepers  : 

85 


86  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

"  Halloo,  Blacksmith  !  Manoel,  what  are  you  doing 
away  in  there  ? " 

"  Leaning,  sir  !  "  would  be  the  ready  reply  of  the 
Portuguese  ;  which  was  strictly  true.  He  was  "  lean 
ing  "  against  a  cask,  sound  asleep. 

A  whaleship  trying  out  at  night  presents  one  of  the 
most  weird  and  striking  pictures  that  can  well  be 
imagined.  But  to  enjoy  it  in  full,  the  observer  must 
take  his  station  near  the  mainmast,  looking  forward, 
and  this  during  his  watch  below,  as  his  duties  would 
otherwise  subject  him  to  certain  interruptions  which 
sadly  mar  the  poetry  of  the  thing.  Alone,  on  the 
face  of  the  waters,  rides  your  floating  home  ;  the 
darkness  around  her  intensified  and  rendered  more 
opaque  by  the  glare  of  light  from  the  try-fires,  and 
utterly  impervious  on  the  lee— beam  and  quarter  from 
the  thick  clouds  of  smoke  continually  floating  off  in 
that  direction.  The  brawny  forms  of  the  boatsteer- 
ers,  thrown  into  strong  relief  in  the  centre  group,  as 
they  tend  the  fires  and  the  seething  caldrons,  which 
require  their  constant  care  and  attention  to  ensure  a 
fine  quality  of  oil  ;  the  "  mincer  "  on  the  left,  indus 
triously  flourishing  his  broad,  keen  knife  in  the  fire 
light  ;  the  cooper,  fudging  at  a  leaky  cask,  half  hidden 
in  darkness  under  the  lee  of  the  "  cooler  ;  "  the  deck 
hands  flitting  about  at  their  various  duties,  appearing 
anJ  vanishing  in  gloom,  like  spirits  dancing  in  an 
ever-changing  light,  now  livid,  now  lurid  ;  now  dying 
away  till  the  smoke  pall  seems  aimost  to  envelop  the 
whole  picture,  then  suddenly  bursting  forth  again  with 
startling  brightness,  as  the  boausteerer  throws  a  fresh 


BOILING. CUTTING    THE    LINE,    ETC.  8/ 

greasy  scrap  on  the  "back  arches,"  and  runs  his  long 
pike  under  the  fires  to  stir  up  "  Old  Hallett  ;  "  the 
brilliant  glare  upon  the  rigging  and  sails  of  the  fore 
mast,  seeming  to  reveal  each  lay  of  the  cordage,  each 
thread  of  the  canvas,  with  a  fidelity  and  minuteness 
of  detail  far  exceeding  that  produced  by  daylight  ;  all 
together  form  a  scene  to  which  no  description  can  do 
justice,  but  of  which  every  whaleman  must  acknowl 
edge  having  felt  the  influence.  The  captain  and  the 
officers  who  are  not  on  duty  on  the  first  watch  seem 
to  loiter  round  the  mainmast,  as  though  unwilling  to 
lose  the  pleasure  of  the  view  even  to  seek  necessary 
rest ;  and  to  en  joy  their  pipes  with  more  that  ordinary 
zest,  as  they  call  up  reminiscences  of  large  fares  taken 
on  former  voyages,  or  count  the  tiers  of  sturdy  iron- 
bound  casks  already  filled  and  lashed  along  the  rail,  and 
glancing  between  decks  at  the  blubber  yet  uncut, 
make  calculations  and  estimates  of  the  probable  yield 
of  the  whale.  All  is  cheerfulness  and  hope  at  such 
times,  and  the  prospects  of  the  voyage  seemed  to  par 
take  of  the  brightness  of  the  caboose  fires.  Wives 
and  children  are  remembered  with  new  affection  at 
such  moments  ;  and  each  feels  nearer  to  home  and 
friends  at  each  recurring  sound  of  the  light-driven 
bung,  and  the  inspiring  cry,  "  Away  cask  !  "  Truly 
is  it  remarked  by  old  whalemen  that  the  most  delight 
ful  parts  of  a  voyage  are  "  boiling  "  and  arriving 
home. 

The  weather  continued  fine  during  the  whole  time 
occupied  in  boiling  and  stowing  down,  so  that  I  may 
say  I  saw  the  first  whale  killed  and  taken  care  of  un- 


88  THE    LOG    OF    THE     ARETHUSA. 

der  very  favorable  circumstances,  and  treating  lightly 
the  croaking  hints  of  the  oldsters,  thus  formed  an 
opinion  of  whaling  in  general  which  subsequent  ex 
perience  did  not  altogether  confirm. 

Our  good  ship  sped  merrily  on  her  voyage,  and, 
after  taking  the  trade  winds,  still  more  rapid  progress 
was  made.  The  equator  was  crossed  without  any  of 
those  time-honored  ceremonies  of  initiation  into  old 
Neptune's  realms  which  have  formed  the  staple  of  so 
many  yarns  by  old  voyagers.  Indeed,  it  is  hardly  to  be 
supposed  that  the  green  hands  would  be  subjected  to 
much  abuse  or  rough  treatment  from  their  equals  in 
rank,  where  they  themselves  form  the  majority  of  the 
ship's  company.  Mr.  Dunham,  however,  did  not  let 
the  occasion  pass  without  attempting  a  practical 
joke.  Having  the  first  watch  on  deck,  he  came  for 
ward,  and  calling  a  young  greenhorn  from  Connect 
icut,  who  rejoiced  in  the  ironical  appellation  of 
"  Black  Hawk,"  perhaps  from  his  utter  want  of  re 
semblance,  in  any  one  particular,  to  that  illustrious 
chieftain  : 

"  Black  Hawk,"  said  he,  confidentially,  "  I  want 
you  to  get  the  cook's  axe,  and  go  out  on  the  martin, 
gale,  and  stand  by  to  cut  the  line.  I  expect  we  shall 
be  up  with  it  now  in  about  half  an  hour,  and  you  must 
look  sharp  and  cut  it  quick,  or  it  will  bring  the  ship 
up  all  standing." 

"  How  big  round  is  it?"  asked  the  apparently  inno 
cent  Black  Hawk. 

"  About  as  thick  as  your  arm  ;  but  if  you  get  a  good 
lick  at  it,  you'll  cut  it  in  time,  or  at  least  cut  some  of 


BOILING. — CUTTING    THE    LINE,    ETC.  89 

the  strands,  so  the  ship  will  break  it  without  stopping 
her." 

"  Do  ships  always  have  to  cut  the  line  when  they 
pass  along  here,  sir  ? "  inquired  the  youngster,  who 
was  not  half  so  green  as  his  appearance  indicated. 

"  Yes,  certainly  they  do." 

"  And  how  does  it  get  j'ined  together  again  ? " 

"  Why,  old  Neptune  and  his  crew  pick  up  the  ends 
and  splice  it,  after  the  ship  has  passed  by,"  said  Mr. 
Dunham,  who  was  rather  puzzled  by  this  catechism, 
and  did  not  quite  understand  the  drift  of  it. 

"  And  how  long  does  it  take  'em  to  get  it  j'ined 
again  ? " 

"  Well — I  suppose  it  would  take  two  or  three  hours 
to  get  the  strands  all  tucked,  and  put  it  in  good 
order." 

"  Well,  sir,  when  I  came  down  from  aloft  (you  kno^ 
I  had  the  sundown  masthead,  sir),  there  was  a  ship  in 
sight  ahead,  and  I  guess  she  must  have  cut  it  about 
an  hour  ago ;  so  they  haint  got  through  j'inin'  on  it 
yet.  I  guess  we  can  slip  through,  sir,  while  the  bars 
are  down."  And  the  baffled  second  mate  went  aft 
with  a  flea  in  his  ear. 

Black  Hawk,  with  all  his  apparent  verdancy,  was 
probably  his  superior  in  general  knowledge ;  and 
though  he  had  seen  the  black  equater  on  the  maps, 
had  a  pretty  clear  idea  of  the  meaning  of  the  words 
"  imaginary  line." 

We  had  light  and  baffling  weather  after  crossing 
the  line,  and  made  but  little  progress  for  some  days. 
We  fell  in  company  with  several  merchant  vessels,  all 


go  THE    LOG   OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

bound  to  the  southward  ;  but  as  they  were  always 
making  the  best  of  their  way  to  a  port  of  destination, 
they  held  no  intercourse  with  us,  beyond  showing 
their  national  flags,  and,  if  near  enough  for  it  to  be 
seen,  their  longitude,  chalked  upon  a  blackboard,  we 
responding  in  each  case  by  showing  ours.  In  one  in 
stance,  however,  we  communicated  with  a  stranger, 
which  Ld  to  incidents  both  serious  and  ludicrous,  to 
break  the  monotony  of  our  sea  life.  A  bark  had 
been  in  sight  of  us  all  day,  steering  on  the  same  course 
as  ourselves.  She  had  shown  Dutch  colors,  but  the 
wind  being  very  light  in  the  afternoon,  the  old  man 
ordered  his  boat  lowered,  and  pulled  alongside  of  her. 
He  was  absent  about  a  couple  of  hours,  and  returned 
with  some  Dutch  cheese  and  other  small  matters.  I 
noticed  that  some  of  the  boat's  crew  appeared  unusu 
ally  jolly  and  demonstrative  when  they  came  along 
side  ;  but  the  boat  was  hoisted  and  they  went  forward, 
no  attention  being  paid  to  them.  It  was  surmised,  of 
course,  that  they  had  been  treated  to  a  glass  while  on 
board  the  Dutchman.  I  asked  Farrell,  who  was  as 
happy  as  a  lord,  what  the  bark's  name  was. 

"  Divil  a  name  of  her  I  can  tell  ye,"  said  Farrell  ; 
"  but  she  belongs  to  some  dam  place  or  other  ;  there's 
a  dam  about  it,  anyhow,  'pon  my  soul.  I  think  it's 
Rotterdam.  But  they've  got  the  good  stuff  there 
that'll  warm  your  heart  and  loosen  your  tongue.  Come 
here  till  I  show  ye."  And  dodging  behind  the  galley, 
he  produced  from  the  capacious  folds  of  his  shirt  a 
bottle  of  schnapps  ! 

"  Dhrink,"  said  Farrell.  "  Dhrink  a  health  to  the 
rotten-dam  Dutchman." 


BOILING. CUTTING   THE    LINE,    ETC.  QI 

"  But  how  did  you  manage  to  smuggle  this  on  board, 
Farrell  ?  " 

"Ah,  lave  Corny  Farrell  alone  for  that!  Don't  say 
a  word  ;  Burley  has  the  twin  to  it." 

I  was  fearful  we  should  have  some  trouble  before 
the  two  bottles  were  disposed  of.  However,  I  had  "no 
idea  of  turning  informer,  but  even  took  a  small  drink 
from  Farrell's  bottle,  thinking  there  would  be  the  less 
for  some  one  else,  and  the  more  it  was  subdivided,  the 
less  effect  it  would  have  on  any  one  man. 

The  bottles  were  passed  round  the  forecastle,  and 
there  was  enough  to  make  all  hands  a  little  lively  and 
talkative,  but  not  enough  to  produce  any  ill  effect,  ex 
cept  in  the  case  of  the  two  proprieters  of  the  bottles 
themselves,  who  hn-i  taken  the  lion's  share  at  starting, 
and  had  preserved  the  remnants  for  private  consump 
tion.  Old  Jeff  said  to  me,  during  our  watch  on  deck, 
on  coming  out  of  the  forecastle  where  he  had  been  to 
light  his  pipe : 

"  Blacksmith,  there'll  be  fun,  I  think,  when  the  star 
board  watch  is  called.  Farrell  is  pretty  noisy  and 
happy  ;  he  wont  make  any  trouble  unless  it's  by  some 
wild  freak  ;  but  Burley  is  as  tight  as  a  brick,  and  it's 
his  turnout  wheel.  He's  blowing  about  his  rights, 
and  swears  he  wont  go  to  the  wheel,  nor  he  wont 
stand  a  watch  ;  so  I  think  there'll  be  fun,  for  Mr.  Dun 
ham  wont  stand  much  nonsense  with  him." 

"  Well,  I  guess  his  blowing  wont  amount  to  much," 
said  I.  "  He'll  cool  down  as  soon  as  the  second  mate 
comes." 

"  Think  so  ? "  said  Jeff  anxiously. 


Q2  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

"  Yes,"  spoke  up  Obed  B.  "  There'll  be  no  great 
trouble  with  /«';«." 

"  I  hear  that  you  and  Kelly  wound  him  up  and  set 
him  back.  Was  that  so  Hoeg  ?  I  didn't  see  that 
fun,  for  I  was  at  the  masthead.  I  only  heard  of  it 
afterwards." 

"  Well,  he  hasn't  tried  to  bully  either  of  us  since," 
said  Hoeg.  "  It's  my  opinion  he's  a  great  coward." 

Six  bells  struck,  and  the  watch  was  called.  Mr. 
Dunham  came  on  deck,  and,  as  usual,  looked  to  see  if 
the  wheel  was  relieved.  Finding  it  was  not,  he  came 
forward. 

"Antone,  do  you  know  whose  wheel  it  is?"  he 
asked. 

"  Butlcy's,  sir/' 

"  Why  isn't  he  there  ?  " 

"  He  say  he  .no  goin'  to  stand  watch  to-night,  sir." 

"Why  not  ?   is  he-sick?" 

"  I  don't  know  'f  he  call  sick.     I  call  dnmk^  sir." 

"O  that's  it  ?     Well,  we'll  see  about  that." 

The  second  mate  put  his  head  over  the  scuttle,  and 
listened  a  moment.  Burley  was  laying  down  law  and 
logic  at  a  terrible  rate,  in  spite  of  the  remonstrances  of 
his  watchmates,  who  entreated  him  either  to  go  on 
deck  or  else  turn  in,  and  let  others  have  rest  and  quiet. 

"  I  know  my  rights,  and  I'm  the  man  to  stand  up 
for  'em  !  "  said  Burley.  "  I'm  not  going  to  stand  a 
watch  to-night,  and  I'd  just  like  to  see  the  live  man 
that  would  make  me  go  on  deck  ! " 

"  Here  he  is  then!"  said  Mr.  Dunham,  as,  clearing 
the  ladder  with  a  swing  of  his  body,  he  landed  on  his 
feet  by  the  side  of  the  astonished  sea-lawyer. 


BOILING. CUTTING    THE    LINE,    ETC.  93 

"  On  deck,  sir,  at  once,  before  I  put  you  there ! " 

Burley  turned  his  head  and  caught  the  second  mate's 
eye.  His  DutcJi  courage  failed  him  altogether.  He 
found  the  upper  deck  so  quick  that  the  officer  would 
not  have  found  it  easy  to  overtake  him,  had  he  been 
disposed  to  assault  him  ;  though  he  evidently  did  not 
consider  him  worth  wasting  wrath  upon. 

'•  What  did  I  tell  you  ?  "  said  Obed  B.,  quietly. 

"  Now,"  said  Mr.  Dunham,  "  you  keep  above  deck 
the  next  four  hours,  and  don't  put  your  head  below  the 
scuttle.  I  don't  want  you  at  the  wheel  now ;  you 
are  not  fit  to  be  there.  Antone,  go  to  the  wheel.  I'll 
see  that  he  stands  your  next  trick  and  his  own  too." 

"  Arrah,  Misther  Burley  !  and  where's  your  rights 
that  you've  been  blowin'  about  ?  "  said  Farrell.  "  You've 
only  been  making  Billy  Fitzgibbons's  mother  of 
yerself,  and  yer  perfarmances  don't  come  up  to  yer 
promises,  at  all." 

I  fell  asleep  with  Farrell  rattling  away  at  him  over 
my  head  ;  but  I  was  sure  the  contemptible  scamp  was 
nearly  powerless  now  as  to  any  influence  over  the 
youngsters  ;  for  we  had  all  set  him  down  as  a  very 
Bob  Acres,  whose  courage  would  ooze  out  at  his 
fingers'  ends,  when  brought  to  the  scratch. 

I  had  just  got  into  a  sound  sleep,  when  we  were  all 
brought  out  of  our  bunks  on  the  jump  by  the  thrill 
ing  cry — I  almost  think  I  hear  it  now — "  Man  over 
board  !  " 

All  was  dark  ;  the  light  in  the  forecastle  had  gone 
out ;  but,  guided  by  the  little  patch  of  sky  showing 
down  the  scuttle,  I  was  on  deck  in  an  instant,  with  my 


94  THE    LOG    Op   THE    ARETHUSA. 

trousers  in  my  hand.  Here,  all  was  confusion  ;  the 
ship  was  coming  up  to  the  wind  with  everything  slat 
ting  ;  the  watch  were  clearing  away  the  starboard  boat, 
Fisher  having  already  cut  the  gripes,  and  I  was  in  her 
before  she  was  half  way  down  the  side.  I  remember 
asking  "  Who  is  it  ?  "  and  some  one,  I  did  not  know 
who,  said,  "  Farrell."  I  remember  thinking  that  I 
ha  1  heard  Farrell  say  he  could  swim  a  little.  We 
shoved  clear  of  the  ship,  and  got  our  oars  out ;  she 
had  taken  aback,  and  was  going  round,  but  we  pulled 
out  as  near  as  possible  in  her  old  wake — nothing  was 
to  be  seen  !  With  anxious  eyes  and  heavy  hearts  we 
looked  about  us.  Here  is  something  floating  ;  we  lay 
round  for  it ;  it  is  the  life-preserver  which  has  been  cut 
adrift  from  the  taffrail ;  but  where  is  the  man  ??  We 
pull  still  further  out  in  the  wake  of  the  ship,  and 
heave  up  again  ;  something  ripples  here  abeam  of  us. 
"  Lay  round  quick  !  " 

We  pass  the  spot.  I  think  I  can  see  a  white  pool 
or  ring  on  the  surface,  and  I  involuntarily  thrust  my 
arm  deep  down  ;  it  touches  something — the  hair  of 
my  shipmate,  sinking  for  the  last  time. 

"  Help  here  !  "  And  Fisher  and  Black  Hawk  are  at 
my  side.  They  seize  his  shoulders  and  he  is  roused 
into  the  boat,  and  laid,  face  down,  across  the  thwarts. 

"  Give  way  for  the  ship ! "  And  we  are  quickly 
alongside,  for  she  is  now  lying  with  the.  head  yards 
aback,  and  lights  set  to  tell  us  her  whereabouts. 

All  has  passed  so  quickly  that  I  seem  to  have 
dreamed  it  all,  and  to  have  woke  now  for  the  first 
time.  He  soon  shows  signs  of  life,  under  the  active 


BOILING. CUTTING  THE    LINE,  ETC  Q5 

treatment  he  is  receiving,  and  he  has  revived  suffi 
ciently  to  sit  up  and  look  about  him  before  the  ques 
tion  is  asked,  by  the  old  man  : 

"  How  did  he  fall  overboard  ?  " 

No  one  seems  to  know.  Black  Hawk  answers  that 
he  heard  the  splash  in  the  water,  and  a  cry  immedi 
ately  after,  and  running  to  the  side,  saw  a  head  bob 
up  abreast  the  fore-chains,  and  gave  the  alarm. 

"By  this  time,  Farrell  enlightens  us  himself,  by  point 
ing  forward  with  his  arm,  gasping  out  the  single  word 
"  Parrp'ses,"  then  is  taken  with  retching  again,  brings 
up  another  pint  of  sea-water,  and  can  give  no  further 
information  at  present. 

I  ran  forward.  The  porpoise  line  (which  was  kept 
ready  rove  in  tail-block  on  the  bowsprit)  was  towering 
under  the  bow.  I  seized  and  rounded  it  in,  and 
brought  up  the  "iron,"  or  rather  the  pole  and  socket 
thereof,  the  shank  being  broken  off  close  up.  It 
would  seem  that  Farrell,  having  the  lookout,  and 
all  the  rest  being  comfortably  snoozing,  had  dis 
covered  porpoises  playing  under  the  bow,  and  being 
in  the  humor  for  a  lark,  determined  to  strike  one 
"  on  his  own  hook,"  without  calling  for  reinforce 
ments  until  after  he  was  "  fast."  But  neither  his 
head  nor  his  heels  being  very  trustworthy  at  the 
time,  he  darted  the  iron  in  one  direction  from  the 
martingale  guy,  and  himself  in  another.  The 
porpoise  must  have  been  struck  most  effectually, 
and  while  we  were  busily  engaged  in  saving  the  man, 
he  had  writhed  in  his  agony  under  the  bows,  till  he 
had  wrung  the  shank  of  the  iron  off. 


96  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

"  Well,  Farrell,  my  boy,"  said  Mr.  Grafton,  how  do 
you  feel  after  your  Baptism  ? " 

"  Well,  sir,  I  feel  pretty  well  bothered,  but  I'll  war 
rant  the  parr'pus  is  nearer  dead  than  I  am."' 

"  Yes,  you  struck  him  solid,  at  any  rate,"  said  the 
mate. 

"  An'  sure,  sir,"  returned  Farrell,  "  don't  you  al 
ways  stern  all,  sir,  as  soon  as  you're  fast  ?  " 

"  Yes,  that's  according  to  rule  ;  but  circumstances 
may  alter  cases.  It  was  a  narrow  squeak  for  you,  at 
any  rate.  You'll  be  in  no  hurry  to  catch  porpoises 
again  in  a  dark  night,  alone." 

"  Bad  luck  to  the  soaking  I  got  ?  "  said  Farrell,  as 
he  went  forward.  "  It's  taken  all  the  snap  out  o'  me 
— and  the  schnapps  too." 

Manifold  were  the  jokes  cracked  at  the  young  Irish 
man's  expense,  after  this  adventure  ;  for  with  seamen, 
as  with  soldiers,  a  miss  is  as  good  as  a  mile,"  always, 
and  that  which  is  almost  a  tragedy  becomes  the  very 
ideal  of  a  farce. 

But  the  redoubtable  Burley  was  effectually  stripped 
of  his  teeth  and  claws.  He  was  as  harmless  as  an  old 
blunderbuss,  which  after  having  been  apparently  well 
loaded,  primed  and  sclinapped,  has  flashed  in  the  pan. 
The  captain  said  nothing  to  indicate  that  he  knew  any 
thing  of  the  liquor  having  been  brought  on  board.  He 
was  not  a  man  to  say  much  to  his  crew,  except  in  the 
way  of  necessary  duty ;  and  he  probably  resolved  to 
be  silent  and  more  watchful  in  the  future.  But  I 
overheard  him  telling  the  mate,  the  next  night,  as  I 
stood  at  the  wheel,  that  Farrell  seemed  a  smart  young 


BOILING. CUTTING    THE    LINE,    ETC.  97 

fellow,  and  he  thought  he  would  make  a  slashing  boat- 
steerer,  if  one  should  be  wanted,  "  especially,"  he  added, 
dryly,  "if  we  could  always  speak  a  Dutchman  just  be 
fore  we  lowered. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


GAMMING 


WHEN  in  the  latitude  of  Cape  St.  Augustine,  being 
close-hauled,  with  light  breezes  at  east-south-east  a 
ship  was  "  raised  "  in  the  afternoon,  under  a  cloud  of 
light  canvas,  steering  to  the  northward.  As  she  grad 
ually  neared  us,  she  was  made  out  by  her  boats  and 
other  significant  marks  to  be  a  homeward-bound  whaler, 
and  by  altering  her  course  a  little,  showed  her  intention 
of  passing  within  hail  and  speaking  us.  The  order 
was  given  to  haul  the  mainsail  up  and  square  the  main- 
yard,  and  the  good  ship,  arrested  in  her  course,  seemed 
to  sit  in  state,  like  a  hostess,  to  receive  company.  The 
decks  were  cleared  up,  and  work  knocked  off  at  an 
earlier  hour  than  usual ;  and  the  slowly  approaching 
stranger  now  became  the  centre  of  attraction,  and  the 
subject  of  much  argument  and  speculation,  each  of 
the  old  hands  recognizing  her  as  some  ship  he  knew 
or  had  sailed  in,  so  that  in  half  an  hour,  she  had  been 
christened  by  more  names  than  would  have  fitted  half 
the  Nantucket  fleet,  which  at  that  period  was  no  in 
considerable  number.  Old  Jeff  knew  it  was  the  Co 
lossus  by  something  peculiar  about  her  spritsail-yard  ; 
a  very  reasonable  supposition,  inasmuch  as  the  Co- 


pi 


WITH    A    "  HOMEWARD-BOUNDER.         99 

lossus  was  only  four  months  from  Nantucket,  outward 
bound,  while  the  copper,  or  rather  the  want  of  it,  on 
the  stranger's  bottom,  showed  unmistakable  signs  of  at 
least  three  years'  wear  and  tear.  The  cooper  was 
morally  certain  it  was  the  Deucalion,  for  no  other  ship 
ever  had,  or  possibly  could  have,  a  pair  of  anchor-stocks 
of  that  shape  ;  but  when  reminded  that  she  was  only 
one  year  out,  and  her  voyage  probably  not  completed, 
compromised  the  matter  by  the  hypothesis  that  the 
ship  in  sight  must  have  spoken  the  Deucalion,  and 
bought  her  anchor  ;  a.  case  which  was  voted  to  be  far 
more  possible  than  probable.  The  old  man  and  his 
mates  were  thinking  of  all  the  ships  that  ought  to  be 
homeward-bound  at  that  time,  and  calling  her  first  one 
and  then  another;  but  the  conclusion  arrived  at  was 
that  she  must  be  some  "outlandishman,"  as  the  isl 
anders  then  termed  the  New  London  and  Sag  Harbor 
whalers,  who  denied  their  ships  with  "  right  whale 
glue,"  rather  than  cruise  four  years  exclusively  for 
sperm. 

The  meeting  of  two  ships  at  sea  is  a  beautiful  and 
imposing  affair.  I  was  deeply  interested  in  the  sight, 
as  the  stranger  drew  nearer  and  nearer.  He  had  hauled 
in  his  studding-sails,  and  brailed  up  both  courses,  seem 
ing  at  times  to  slide  down  to  leeward  on  a  declivity,  and 
then  to  stop  suddenly,  as  if  arrested  by  some  unseen 
power.  The  breeze  was.  light,  and  the  sea.  compara 
tively  smooth,  but  I  was  surprised  to  see  how  consid 
erable  her  rolling  motion  was,  even  under  these  cir 
cumstances.  Rough-looking-  men,  clad  in  garments  of 
more  colors  than  the  coat  of  Joseph  ever  boasted,  could 


IOO  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

be  seen  clustered  round  the  bows,  and  stretching  their 
heads  over  the  bulwarks,  and  two  or  three  had  climbed 
into  the  waistboat,  to  get  a  better  view.  The  skip 
per,  a  large,  dark-looking  man,  sat  in  the  head  of  the 
labored  quarter-boat,  from  time  to  time  turning  his 
head  to  speak  to  his  helmsman,  and  waving  his  brass 
trumpet  to  enforce  the  order.  Captain  Upton,  with  a 
similar  instrument,  was  mounted  on  the  taffrail,  his 
mates  standing  near  him,  a  little  in  the  background. 
The  stillness,  as  the  ships  neared  each  other,  was  un 
broken  now,  save  by  the  occasional  rustle  of  a  sail 
aloft,  or  the  slight  washing  of  the  water  under  the 
bows  of  the  stranger.  Some  one  was  seen  to  run 
forward  with  a  spyglass,  and,  after  bringing  it  to  bear 
for  a  moment  upon  our  stern,  to  hurry  aft  again  with 
a  report  to  the  strange  captain.  The  ship  appeared 
at  this  moment  to  be  heading  directly  into  us,  as 
though  bent  on  striking  us  amidships  and  running  us 
down.  Some  of  us,  clustered  at  the  weather  rail,  in 
voluntarily  began  to  draw  back,  fearing  a  collision  ; 
but  again,  at  a  wave  of  the  dark  man's  trumpet  the 
ship,  obedient  to  her  helm,  fell  slowly  off,  so  as  to  pass 
just  clear,  across  our  stern.  Silence  more  profound 
than  ever. 

"Who  commands  the  Arethusa?"  shouted  a  hoarse 
voice,  through  the  brass  tube. 

"  Upton  ! "  responded  the  other  brass  tube. 

"  Hope  you're  very  well,  Captain  Upton ! "  said 
brass  tube  number  one,  obscuring  the  face  of  the 
speaker  like  a  total  eclipse. 

"  Very  well,  thank  you,"  answered  tube  number  two 
in  the  same  style.  k<  What  ship  is  that,  prav  ? " 


"  GAMMING        WITH    A    "  HOMEWARD-BOUNDER.      IOI 

"Mandarin,  of  Nantucket." 

"  Hope  to  see  you  well,  Captain  Barney." 

Much  muttering  now  ensued  among  our  wiseacres, 
each  of  whom  had  known  it  was  the  Mandarin  all 
along,  and  had  told  all  the  rest  so,  half  an  hour  ago. 
Anybody  might  have  known  that  was  the  Mandarin's 
figure-head.  All  which  somewhat  interfered  with  the 
clear  understanding  of  the  rest  of  the  dialogue,  which 
was  now  carried  on  between  the  brass  tubes  at  a  furi 
ous  rate.  "  What  success  ? — Sixteen  hundred. — What 
port  are  you  from  last  ? — Oahu. — How  long  are  you 
from  home  ? — Forty-five  days. — Got  any  letters  for 
us  ? — Yes.  Come  aboard. — Thank  you,  I  will.  "  A 
flourish  of  the  trumpet,  and  the  Mandarin's  crew  are 
seen  running  to  the  braces,  as  her  helm  is  clapped 
a  starboard,  and  she  rounds  to  the  wind  at  .a  hand 
some  distance  under  our  Ice,  with  her  maintopsail 
thrown  aback  for  an  old-fashioned  "  gam." 

Supper  is  delayed  for  the  guests  to  arrive ;  several 
of  us  dive  below,  embracing  the  opportunity  to  write 
a  few  lines  to  our  friends  at  home  ;  Old  Jeff  growls  at 
us  for  being  in  such  a  hurry,  and  says  there's  plenty 
of  time  between  now  and  midnight;  for  we  are  sure  to 
"gam  "  till  that  time. 

"  Captain  Barney  and  the  old  man  are  cronies,  and 
they'll  have  to  kill  all  the  whales  in  the  ocean  across 
the  cabin  table,  before  they  part  company." 

A  light  whale-boat  is  presently  seen  to  drop  from  un 
der  the  Mandarin's  lee-quarter,  and  comes  bounding  to 
windward  under  the  powerful  impulse  of  her  oars,  the 
sturdy  and  regular  strokes  telling  of  old  and  trained 


102  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

hands  who  wield  them.  A  petty  officer  is  steering, 
while  his  majesty  the  captain  stands  firmly  planted  in 
the  stern  sheets,  with  his  legs  spread  apart  in  an  atti 
tude  suggestive  of  an  inverted  letter  Y,  and  benignly 
regards  his  loyal  subjects  at  the  oars,  who  stretch  to 
their  work  in  gallant  style,  as  if  conscious  that  they 
"bear  Caesar  and  his  fortunes."  The  principal  impel 
ling  motive,  however,  is  their  eagerness  to  levy  con 
tributions  upon  the  "  greenies."  Already  they  im 
agine  themselves  returning  with  bundles  of  books  and 
papers  tied  up  with  rope-yarns,  and  shirt-bosoms  cor 
pulent  with  new  tobacco,  a  luxury  to  which  their  teeth 
have  been  strangers  for  many  a  day. 

"  Ship  in,  harp'neer  !  way  enough  !  Look  out  for 
the  warp  in  the  waist !  " 

"  Halloo,  old  man !  "  says  Captain  Barney,  as  he 
recognizes  Father  Graf  ton  at  the  man-ropes,  "you 
out  here  again  ?  " 

Then  as  his  head  rises  above  the  rail,  "  How  goes 
it,  Upton  ?  S'pose  you've  got  a  crack  ship  here  by  the 
look  of  things.  Well,  how  did  you  leave  old  Nantucket  ? 
'Taint  sunk  yet,  has  it  ?  "  A  common  question  with 
whalemen  when  they  meet,  and  asked  with  as  much 
gravity  as  that  of  the  noble  Thane,  Macduff,  "  Stands 
Scotland  where  it  did  ?  "  or  as  though  islands  were  in 
the  habit  of  submerging  themselves  every  day  in  the 
week. 

A  hearty  greeting  and  hand-shaking  follows,  with 
a  few  hurried  questions  and  replies,  an  introduction  to 
the  other  officers,  and  an  invitation  to  our  mate  to  go 
on  board  and  spend  the  evening  with  Mr.  Joy. 


"  GAMMING        WITH    A    "  HOMEWARD-BOUNDER.        IO3 

"  Do  you  swap  boats'  crews,  Upton  ?  " 

"  Yes,  I  don't  care ;   let  them  go." 

So  the  boat  is  manned  with  a  crew  01  Arethusas, 
myself  amonn;  the  number,  and  Mr.  Grafton  steers 
himself,  not  yet  having  arrived  at  the  dignity  of  a  body 
guard.  It  was  nearly  dark  when  we  arrived  alongside, 
and  as  soon  as  the  boat  was  on  the  cranes  and  se 
cured,  all  hands  made  a  "grand  forward  movement" 
to  supper,- and  I  now  had  leisure  to  look  about  me,  and 
to  compare  the  vessel  and  her  veteran  looking  crew 
with  the  Arethusa  and  my  own  shipmates. 

The  forecastle  of  the  Mandarin  was  small,  dingy  and 
dark,  even  in  the  daytime,  having  only  two  small  deck- 
lights  and  no  sidelights,  a  modern  luxury  which  had 
not  then  come  into  general  use.  She  had  boasted  a 
steerage  in  the  early  part  of  the  voyage,  but  this  had 
been  broken  up,  and  all  hands  quartered  in  the  fore 
castle — sixteen  men  in  twelve  bunks,  some  of  them 
turning  in  and  out,  watch  and  watch.  An  old  batter 
ed  blubber-room  lamp  hung  from  a  beam  overhead, 
and  gave  just  sufficient  light  to  make  darkness  visible. 
Two  little  ones,  of  the  kind  known  as  "  petticoat 
lamps,"  were  now  added,  and  each  furnished  light 
enough  to  see  that  the  other  was  burning.  The  old 
adage  that  "a  farrier's  mare  and  a  cobbler's  wife  are 
always  slipshod "  is  fully  verified  in  the  case  of  a 
whaleman's  lamp  ;  for  those  who  supply  the  world  with 
oil  burn  it  in  its  crude  state. 

There  was  room  enough  in  the  forecastle,  small  as 
it  was ;  for  not  half  the  crew  had  chests,  and  their 
goods  and  chattels  could  be  compressed  into  a  very 


104  TIIE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

small  compass.  The  supper  was  not  exactly  what 
would  have  tempted  a  gourmand  ;  still  it  was  all  that 
could  be  expected  on  board  a  ship  forty-four  months 
from  home.  The  cows  must  have  gone  astray,  for 
the  supply  of  milk  had  failed  :  domestic  coffee,  com 
pounded  of  burnt  peas  and  corn,  had  usurped  the  place 
of  the  imported  article  ;  while  it  was  evident  that  the 
visitors,  if  in  time  for  supper,  had  come  too  late  for 
tea.  The  bread  was  thickly  colonized,  and  the  salt 
junk  better  adapted  for  the  manufacture  of  fancy 
carved  work  and  articles  of  virtu  than  for  purposes  of 
mastication.  It  was,  of  course,  a  point  of  honor  with 
us  green  hands  to  overlook  these  little  drawbacks,  and 
even  to  affect  an  eccentric  taste  for  the  ancient  viands  ; 
but  our  hosts  were  not  at  all  backward  in  expressing 
their  dissatisfaction  with  this  state  of  things. 

This  crew  were  mostly  "  beachcombers,"  men  who 
had  joined  the  ship  during  the  voyage,  many  of  them 
in  the  last  port,  and  knew  little  and  cared  less  about 
the  history  of  the  voyage  previous  to  the  time  they 
shipped.  They  were  full  of  tales  of  their  adventures 
in  other  vessels  from  which  they  had  deserted  or 
been  discharged,  and  of  encounters  with  consuls, 
captains  of  the  port,  vigilantes,  and  other  function 
aries,  commonly  regarded  as  Jack's  natural  enermes  ; 
while  those  luckless  shipmasters  who  had  availed  them 
selves  of  their  services  must  have  lived  in  perpetual 
jeopardy  during  the  time  they  remained  on  board. 

I  inquired  of  the  man  upon  whom  I  was  quartered 
at  supper,  "how  long  the  ship  was  out." 

"  That's  more  than   I  can  tell  you,"  returned   the 


WITH    A    "  HOMEWARD-BOUNDER.      IO5 

cruiser.     "  I've  been  only  four  months  in  this  hooker. 
There's  Dan  and  '  Shorty,'  they  are  the  only  two  men 
in  the  fo'c'stle  that  came  from  home  in  her.     They  can 
tell  you  ;  all  the  rest  of  us  are  cruisers." 
"  Where  did  you  join  her  ? "  I  asked. 
"  In  Oahu.     I  ran  away  from  the    Cambridge,  of 
New    Bedford,   and  stowed   away   here   in    the   fore 
peak.     The  '  kikos  '  came  aboard  three  times,  hunting 
for  runaway  men  ;  but  I'll    defy   any  kiko    to   catch 
me." 

"What's  a  kiko  ?"  I  inquired. 

"  That's  what  they  call  the  Kanaka  policemen. 
They  used  to  come  down  and  take  off  the  fore  peak 
scuttle,  and  look  down,  and  shove  their  sticks  in ;  but 
you  see  they  don't  have  but  one  pair  of  white  trousers 
apiece,  and  don't  mean  to  get  'em  dirty.  But  if  any 
kiko  had  crawled  in  where  I  was,  he  wouldn't  have 
got  out  again  alive." 

"  Why  not  ?  "  I  inquired,  innocently, 
"  'Cause  I'd  have  let  daylight  through  him  ! " 
I  looked  at  the  speaker  reflectively,  and  involunta 
rily  hitched  a  little  further  from  him  on  the  chest,  feel 
ing  somewhat  doubtful  of  close  companionship  with 
so  dangerous  a  character.     Yet  the  probability  is,  this 
man  was  as  arrant  a  Falstaff  as  could  be  found  in  a 
day's  journey. 

"  What  made  you  run  away  from  the  Cambridge  ?  " 

"  O,  me  and  the  old  man  had  a  row.     Besides,  I 

had  been  eight  months  in  her,  and  that's  long  enough 

to  be  in  one  craft.      IM  like  to  see  the hooker 

that  would  keep  me  a  year." 


106  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

• 

The  speaker  prefixed  to  the  word  hooker  a  san 
guinary  adjective,  which  is  not  applicable  to  ships 
except  after  a  hard-fought  action. 

"  Do  you  expect  to  stay  out  the  voyage  in  that 
hooker  ?  "  inquired  the  beachcomber. 

"  Yes,"  said  I,  "  I  think  I  shall.  I've  been  well 
used  so  far,  and  have  nothing  to  complain  of.  I  don't 
see  any  reason  to  leave  the  ship,  with  the  chance  of 
getting  into  a  worse  one." 

"Ah,  my  lad,  you're  green  yet.  Wait  awhile  till 
you've  seen  more  service,  and  you'll  get  tired  of  stay 
ing  so  long  in  one  craft.  I  say,  shift  about  and  go  by 
the  cruise.  Six  months  is  plenty  long  enough  in  one 
hooker." 

€ome  of  the  green  hands  were  swallowing  this  kind 
of  poison  by  wholesale  ;  each  one  listening  to  a  yarn 
of  how  the  narrator  had  humbugged  a  shipping  master, 
or  bullied  an  American  "  counslc,"  or  knocked  over  an 
officer  of  a  ship  in  the  discharge  of  his  duty.  The 
pleasures  of  a  drunken  spree  and  row  with  the  police 
of  a  foreign  port  were  duly  set  forth,  and  the  peculiar 
delights  of  life  in  a  calaboose  depicted  in  glowing 
colors.  But  this  species  of  conversation  flagged  after 
a  time.  The  Mandarins  boasted  no  musical  instru 
ment  ;  but  that  curse  and  abomination  of  the  fore 
castle,  a  greasy  pack  of  cards,  was  produced,  and 
furnished  pastime  for  a  small  knot  in  one  corner  for  a 
short  time.  . 

Dan  and  "  Shorty,"  the  two  "  voyagers,"  brought 
up  from  the  depths  of  their  chests  some  canes,  busks, 
and  other  fancy  articles  or  "scrimshonting,"  as  it  is 


"GAMMING"  WITH  A  "HOMEWARD-BOUNDER."  107 

termed  by  whalers,  ingeniously  fabricated  from  whales' 
teeth  and  jaw  bones,  some  of  which  they  were  willing 
to  exchange  for  tobacco,  the  principal  necessary  of 
life  among  seamen  on  long  voyages,  and  their  uni 
versal  circulating  medium  and  standard  of  value.  An 
article  of  traffic  at  sea,  instead  of  being  estimated  at 
so  many  dollars  and  cents,  is  rated  at  so  many  pounds 
of  tobacco  ;  a  thing  which  is  nearly  worthless  is  "  not 
worth  a  chaw  of  tobacco  ;  "  a  disputed  question  is 
generally  settled  by  betting  a  certain  quantity  of 
tobacco,  and  a  notorious  romancer  is  often  interrupted 
in  the  midst  of  a  thrilling  story,  with  the  inquiry, 
"  How  much  tobacco  have  you  got  ?  "  meaning, 
"  How  much  can  you  give  us  to  believe  it  ?  We'll  be 
lieve  anything,  if  you've  got  tobacco  enough  to  put  it 
through." 

And  yet,  through  all  the  rough  entertainment 
there  shone  a  vein  of  politeness  and  deference  to  their 
guests,  a  certain  delicacy  which  never  deserts  the 
sailor,  and  which  might  be  studied  with  profit  by 
many  accustomed  to  the  most  courtly  circles.  A 
man  who  should  overstep  certain  bounds  in  his  inter 
course  with  visitors  from  a  strange  ship,  or  be  guilty 
of  the  slightest  breach  of  a  certain  etiquette,  not  de 
fined  by  Chesterfield's  laws,  but  natural  and  of  spon- 
tanous  growth,  as  it  were,  would  be  taken  to  task 
unmercifully  by  his  shipmates ;  and  slights  which 
would  pass  current  in  a  fashionable  evening  party, 
with  both  nobs  and  snobs,  would  never  be  overlooked 
in  a  whalemen's  "  gam." 

A  song  was  called  for  by  somebody  ;  the  motion 


IO8  THE  LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

was  seconded  and  carried,  ncm.  con. ;  cards  were 
thrown  aside,  "  scrimshonting "  articles  returned  to 
their  depositories  ;  and  after  some  little  clamor,  it  was 
decided  that  "  Old  Scotty,"  a  tall,  sunburned  salt, 
who  had  served,  according  to  his  own  statement, 
in  one  of  the  maintops  of  his  most  nautical  majesty 
William  the  Fourth,  should  open  the  musical  pro 
gramme  with  that  delectable  chorus,  "  The  stormy 
winds  how  they  blow,  blow,  blow,"  which  he  executed 
after  the  most  approved  and  orthodox  style,  rolling 
up  the  whites  of  his  eyes  at  the  carlines  overhead, 
as  though  he  expected  that  the  roaring  chorus  in 
which  all  lands  joined,  would  lift  the  deck  off,  and 
afford  him  a  view  of  the  heavens.  A  burst  of  ap 
plause  followed  the  last  verse,  which  I  must  confess  I 
construed  to  be  a  manifestation  of  joy  that  it  was 
finished,  and  of  gratitude  that  there  was  no  more  of 
it  to  be  endured.  The  Arethusas  were  now  called 
upon  to  respond,  and  after  some  comparing  of  notes 
and  prompting  each  other,  Farrell  struck  up  the  time- 
honored  confession  of  the  misguided  Irish  youth  who 
committed  matrimony  at  the  tender  age  of  sixteen, 
and  "died  forlorn  on  Steven's  Green,"  and  afterwards 
wrote  his  autobiography  in  common  metre,  his  last 
earthly  request  being  that  his  pall  might  be  borne 
by  six  disconsolate  young  ladies,  all  dressed  in  white 
gowns  and  pink  ribbons.  This  song  is  a  stock  article 
with  Irish  and  seamen,  for  what  reason  it  would  be 
hard  to  tell.  A  stout,  jolly-looking  Mandarin  next 
electrified  the  auditors  with  the  sentimental  refrain  of 
"  O  no,  we  never  mention  her  ! "  with  original  quavers 


"GAMMING"  WITH  A  "HOMEWARD-BOUNDER."  109 

and  variations,  chanted  in  a  voice  of  thunder  ;  and 
was  followed  by  Old  Scotty,  who  rolled  his  eyes  higher 
than  ever  as  he  poured  himself  out  in  a  heartrending 
ballad,  describing  the  fate  of  a  certain  Miss  Caroline 
of  Edinboro  town,  who  at  an  untimely  age  "  shuffled 
off  this  mortal  coil,"  and  "plunged  her  body  down," 
after  giving  precisely  three  shrieks  for  Henry,  neither 
more  nor  less.  This  pathetic  outbreak  again  brought 
up  the  Arethusas  in  force,  and  the  entertainment  was 
sustained  with  great  vigor  on  both  sides,  the  songs 
being  of  various  descriptions,  and  some,  like  newspaper 
novelettes,  broken  off  in  the  middle  of  a  verse,  "  to  be 
continued  hereafter."  Some  of  the  volunteer  per 
formers  would  have  passed  for  good  singers  where 
tunes  were  not  in  fashion,  while  others,  if  they  had 
fitted  all  the  snatches  together  into  one,  might  have 
furnished  a  medley  of  a  highly  original  character. 
The  veritable  history  of  that  unfortunate  mariner, 
William  Taylor,  who  was  sent  to  his  last  account  by 
the  contents  of  a  brace  of  pistols  in  the  hands  of  his 
slighted  "  ladie  love,"  having  been  caught  inflagrante 
delicto,  basking  in  the  smiles  of  another  fair  one,  was 
interrupted  at  a  most  thrilling  crisis  by  the  cry  of 
"  Brace  forward  the  mainyard  !  "for  the  Arethusa  had 
forged  considerably  ahead,  while  both  ships  were 
lying  aback.  It  took  some  time  to  do  this,  as  by  a 
singular  fatality,  nobody  had  a  watch  on  deck  ;  all  the 
men  who  should  by  any  possibility  have  had  one  had 
gone  gamming.  The  denouement  of  the  fickle  Tay 
lor's  story  was  lost,  as  the  helm  required  the  singer's 
services. 

The  last  act  of  the  evening  partook  much  of  the 


I  IO  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

nature  of  the  first,  being  filled  with  marvellous  tales  of 
exploits,  and  "  moving  accidents  by  flood,"  and  com 
parison  of  notes  touching  the  respective  merits  of 
ships,  captains  and  officers.  The  cry  of  "  Haul  aback" 
cut  short  several  half-finished  stories,  and  brought 
everybody  on  deck  to  look  at  the  Arethusa,  now  run- 
ing  to  leeward  with  a  light  set  as  a  signal  of  recall  for 
her  mate  and  boat's  crew.  A  murmur  of  admiration 
went  round  among  us,  at  the  appearance  of  the  crack 
ship  looming  in  the  clear  moonlight,  as,  having  assumed 
the  lee  position,  she  rounded  gracefully  to  again,  when 
the  boat  was  cleared  away  and  manned,  with  hearty 
farewells  on  both  sides. 

"  Good-night,  Joy,"  said  Father  Grafton,  as  he  de 
scended  the  manropes.  "Short  passage  home  to  you. 
Deliver  my  letter  yourself  when  you  get  there.  " 

"Ay,  ay,"  returned  the  Mandarin's  mate.  "Greasy 
luck  to  you !  " 

"Thank  you,"  said  Grafton.  "  A  large  whale  for  you 
to-morrow,"  with  the  additional  reservation,  "and  two 
for  us.  Let  go  the  warp !  out  oars — pull  ahead  \ " 

We  arrived  on  board  our  own  ship  to  find  a  scene 
similar  to  that  we  had  just  left.  Some  of  the  Man 
darin?  had  found  a  congenial  spirit  in  the  sea-lawyer 
Burley,  and  others  had  fulfilled  their  mission  by 
"bumming"  considerable  quantities  of  tobacco  and 
literature  from  the  younger  lads.  Manoel  and  An- 
tone  had  monopolized  a  Portuguese  boatsteerer,  and 
formed  a  trio  aside  for  a  conference  highly  inter 
esting  to  themselves  and  possessing  the  additional 
merit  of  being  unintelligible  to  all  the  rest. 


"GAMMING        WITH   A    "HOMEWARD-BOUNDER.      Ill 

The  Mandarin  having  run  to  leeward  in  her  turn, 
the  word  was  passed  to  "  man  the  boat ; "  and,  for  a 
wonder,  they  waited  alongside  only  three  quarters  of 
an  hour.  But  Captain  Barney  was  an  uncommonly 
prompt  man  in  his  movements  ;  the  usual  standard 
in  such  cases  being  one  hour  and  a  quarter. 

In  a  few  minutes,  the  rusty-looking  ship  was  off 
on  her  northerly  course  for  "  home,  sweet  home," 
bearing  messages  to  gladden  the  hearts  of  many  in 
terested  in  the  fate  of  those  on  board  her  late  con 
sort,  who  was  again  standing  by  the  wind  to  the  south 
ward. 

The  first  inoculation  of  what  may  be  designated 
"  salt  poison  "  had  taken  effect  among  our  crew,  and 
much  mischief  had  been  done  by  this  apparently 
harmless  visit.  Those  who  had  hitherto  been  cheerful 
and  satisfied  with  all  around  them,  now  began  to  dis 
cover  flaws  and  defects,  viewing  things  and  actions 
though  new  and  distorted  lenses  ;  instituting  parallels 
between  the  methods  of  doing  the  most  trifling  duties 
on  board  different  vessels,  and  discoursing  nautical 
wisdom  at  second  hand  with  all  the  gravity  and  dog 
matism  of  experienced  tars.  Truly  may  it  be  said  in 
connection  that  "  comparisons  are  odious." 


CHAPTER  X. 

WHALING  NEAR  THE  FALKLANDS. DEATH  OF   MR. 

JOHNSON. 

No  more  whales  were  seen  till  the  Arethusa  had 
passed  the  latitude  of  48  degrees  south,  and  was  nearly 
up  with  the  Falklancls.  The  wind  was  fresh  from 
south-west,  and  the  ship  close-hauled  on  the  south- 
south-east  tack,  diving  into  a  head  sea  under  whole 
topsails,  making  wet  weather  of  it ;  while  the  aspect 
of  the  heavens  was  threatening,  and  indicated  more 
wind  before  night.  Mr.  Dunham,  who  went  to  the 
masthead  in  the  forenoon,  reported  a  large  "  breach  " 
on  the  weather  quarter  five  miles  distant.  The  ship 
stood  on  for  a  short  time,  and  then  going  about,  headed 
up  nearly  in  the  direction  where  the  breach  was  seen. 
In  an  hour  after  tacking,  spouts  were  seen,  and  were 
soon  made  out  beyond  question  to  be  those  of  three 
large  sperm  whales  going  slowly  to  leeward.  When 
they  went  down  a^ain  they  were  not  more  than  two 
miles  from  us  ;  but  it  was  by  this  time  high  noon,  and 
the  wind  and  sea  had  increased,  so  that  the  ship  was 
brought  down  to  double-reefed  topsails.  The  chances 
were  not  at  all  favorable  for  chasing  whales  with  much 
prospect  of  success.  But  Captain  Upton  and  his  offi. 
cers  were  not  to  be  daunted  by  trifles,  with  sperm 


WHALING    NEAR    THE    FALKLANDS.  113 

whales  in  sight ;  and  their  doctrine  was,  that  as  long 
as  a  boat  could  live  she  could  tackle  a  whale  and  kill 
him.  So  everything  was  cleared  for  action,  and  after 
standing  on  till  he  judged  the  ship  near  enough,  the 
captain  ordered  the  maintopsail  hauled  aback,  and  the 
boats  hoisted  and  swung.  This  was  hardly  accom 
plished  when  the  whales  broke  water  within  half 
a  dozen  ship's  lengths  of  the  lee-beam. 

"  Lower  away  !  "  was  the  word,  and  down  went  all 
three  boats,  the  starboard  boat  having  the  advantage  in 
this  case  from  being  on  the  lee  quarter,  and  getting 
clear  of  the  ship  in  advance  of  the  rest. 

The  whales  were  as  yet  apparently  undisturbed, 
and  the  chance  of  striking  what  would  be  considered 
a  sure  one,  as  they  would  not  readily  take  the  alarm 
in  such  weather.  There  was  no  need  of  spreading  a 
sail  to  a  breeze  like  this  ;  it  was  only  necessary  to 
head  the  boat  off  before  the  wind  and  sea,  and  giving 
her  a  slight  impetus  with  the  paddle-strokes,  to  drive 
quietly  down  upon  the  prey. 

The  two  mates,  as  they  shoved  astern  of  the  ship, 
saw  the  exact  state  of  things,  and  merely  suffered 
their  boats  to  run  to  leeward,  without  effort,  so  as  to 
be  at  hand  to  support  the  captain  if  he  should  strike, 
without  interfering  with  his  chance  by  competition. 
Seated  at  the  bow  thwart  next  the  boatsteerer,  I  had 
a  fair  view  of  the  advance  to  the  attack,  and  regarded 
the  progress  of  the  starboard  boat  with  eager  in 
terest,  not  unmixed  with  anxiety,  as  I  thought  of  the 
difficulty  and  danger  of  grappling  with  these  monsters 
in  such  weather.  Mr.  Johnson  stood  up  in  the  head 

8 


114  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

of  his  boat  grasping  the  bight  of  the  warp  in  his  left 
hand,  the  right  resting  on  his  "  iron  poles,"  while  the 
other  four  continued  dipping  their  paddles  to  add  to 
the  speed  of  the  lively  boat,  which  was  sliding  down 
to  leeward,  as  it  were,  at  a  rate  that  promised  soon  to 
place  her  within  striking  distance.  Already  she  was 
within  a  ship's  length  of  the  right  hand  one,  for  which 
the  captain  was  steering,  when  the  off  whale  of  the 
three  took  the  alarm,  as  was  evinced  by  his  elevating 
his  head  rather  more  than  usual,  and  then  cutting  out 
a  corner  of  his  flukes  with  that  peculiar  movement 
known  to  whalemen  as  indicative  of  an  intention  to 
leave  soon.  The  panic  spread  to  the  others  instantly, 
by  that  sort  of  magnetic  communication  which  whales 
seem  to  employ  even  when  miles  apart.  A  sudden 
and  convulsive  movement  was  observed  in  all  three  of 
them  at  the  same  instant.  It  was  evident  that  like 
Macbeth's  guests,  they  would  "  stand  not  upon  the 
order  of  their  going."  The  left-hand  whale,  who  had 
first  perceived  the  danger,  was  gone  like  a  flash,  his 
tail  skimming  out  just  above  the  surface  ;  his  next 
neighbor  shot  ahead  half  his  length  with  a  sudden 
effort,  and  threw  his  flukes  high  in  air  ;  the  third, 
who  had  just  blown  off  his  spout, attempted  the  same 
manoeuvre,  but  it  was  too  late  ;  the  boat  was  shooting 
too  quick  for  him.  As  he  threw  up  his  body,  the  head 
of  the  boat  was  just  abreast  of  his  "  small,"  rushing 
down  the  declivity  of  a  wave. 

"  Dart !  "  cried  Captain  Upton,  in  a  voice  that  rose 
high  above  the  roaring  of  the  wind  and  sea  ;  "  dart, 
and  try  him  !  " 


WHALING    NEAR   THE    FALKLANDS.  11$ 

Quick  as  thought  the  flashing  iron  sped  on  its  mis 
sion  from  the  long,  sinewy  arms  of  the  mulatto,  and 
its  sudden  stoppage,  and  the  quiver  of  the  pole  in  the 
"  suds  "  as  his  keen  eye  noted  it,  told  him  it  had 
found  its  mark.  Already  the  second  one  was  drawn 
back  for  a  dart  ;  Father  Grafton  had  roared,  "  Spring 
ahead  !  He's  fast  !  "  when  the  air  was  darkened  by 
the  ponderous  tail  of  the  infuriated  monster,  which 
seemed  to  hang  poised  for  an  instant — a  cry  of 
"  Stern  !  stern  hard  !  !  " — a  crash — and  the  starboard 
boat  was  buried  in  a  cloud  of  foam.  "  Spring,  men  ! 
he  stove  !  "  shouted  the  mate,  and  with  the  heave  of 
the  next  sea  the  wreck  seemed  to  struggle  up  through 
the  boiling  vortex,  the  crew  striking  out  for  their  lives 
to  meet  the  approaching  boats.  No  whale  was  to  be 
S2jm  ;  but  what  struck  a  chill  to  every  heart,  only 
five  heads  could  be  counted  ! 

"  Spring,  men,  do  !  they're  all  swimming  for  it  ! 
Peak  your  oar,  Bunker,  and  stand  by  to  lend  them  a 
hand  !  Don't  look  for  the  whale  now  !  Two — three 
— four — five — O  God  !  where's  Mr.  Johnson  ?  " 

The  oath  must  have  been  overlooked  by  the  record 
ing  angel.  The  third  mate  had  sunk  to  rise  no  more 
till  the  great  day  of  reckoning.  The  whole  head  of 
the  boat,  as  far  as  the  bow-thwart,  was  crushed  to 
splinters  by  the  fearful  blow  ;  and  the  bowman 
seemed  to  have  escaped  by  a  miracle.  The  half- 
drowned  men  were  pulled  into  the  other  two  boats  ; 
and  the  line  was  found  to  be  cut,  but  no  one  seemed 
clearly  to  know  how,  when,  or  by  whom.  Anxious 
eyes  peered  round,  hoping  against  hope,  to  see  the 


I  1 6  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

head  of  the  lost  man  ;  but  a  moment's  reflection 
served  to  convince  Captain  Upton  of  the  impossibility 
of  his  having  escaped.  He  was  silent  for  a  short 
space  after  he  stood  by  the  side  of  his  mate  ;  then 
pointing  significantly  at  the  crushed  fragments  of  the 
boat's  bow,  "  He  must  have  been  killed  instantly, 
Mr.  Grafton,"  he  said,  and  a  tear  started  from  the 
eye  of  the  strong  man,  and  was  lost  among  the  briny 
drops  that  were  streaming  from  every  thread  of  his 
clothing. 

Father  Grafton  answered  only  by  a  nod  of  assent, 
showing  his  full  conviction  of  the  worst.  A  moment 
and  the  captain  was  himself  again  !  he  had  paid  the 
tribute  of  a  lull  heart,  and  was  once  more  the  whal 
ing  captain,  alive  to  the  emergency  of  the  moment. 

"  Pull  ahead,  and  pick  up  the  wreck  !  We'll  save 
all  the  craft  we  can,  Mr.  Dunham,  but  never  mind  the 
boat.  We  must  let  ur  go,  and  bear  a  hand  aboard 
—it's  breezing  on  all  the  time,  and  I  expect  we  shall 
have  it  harder  to-night.  Don't  stop  for  small  mat 
ters  ;  save  the  oars  and  line — boat's  sail  if  you  can. 
Set  your  waif,  Mr.  Grafton,  for  the  ship — never  mind, 
he's  coming  ;  I  see  her  falling  off  now.  Lay  off  a 
little  from  the  wreck,  boys  ;  don't,  for  Heaven's  sake, 
stave  another  boat  now.  There,  that'll  do  ;  stand  by 
to  pull  ahead.  What's  'Cooper'  running  so  far  for? 
I  wonder  if  he'll  think  to  come  to  on  the  starboad 
tack,  so  as  to  hoist  these  boats  to  leeward.  Yes  !  all 
right  !  there  he  braces  up  his  mizzen  topsail  !  Pull 
ahead,  and  let's  get  snug  before  night  !  " 

The  Arethusa  came  flying  up  to  the  wind  with  her 


WHALING    NEAR    THE    FALKLANDS. 

topsails  run  down  on  the  caps,  and  the  jib  at  the 
boom-end  slatting  at  a  furious  rate,  as  the  overloaded 
boats  pulled  alongside  under  her  lee. 

"  Keep  your  tackles  up  clear  till  we  give  the  word ! 
Look  out  on  deck  for  some  of  this  lumber  !  Bear  a 
hand — what  are  you  all  staring  at  ?  "  for  the  ship- 
keepers  seemed  to  be  paralyzed  with  dread,  at'  not 
seeing  the  third  mate  in  either  of  the  boats. 

"  Light  out  now,  all  but  two  to  hook  on  !  Here, 
come  to  the  falls,  everybody,  and  stand  by  to  run  the 
boat  up.  Now's  your  time,  Mr.  Grafton — hook  on — 
all  ready,  Bunker  ?  Fore  and  aft  !  Quick,  boys,  and 
take  her  out  of  water  !  " 

The  boats  were  fortunately  secured  in  the  cranes, 
without  accident.  The  wind  was  piping  on  to  a  gale 
and  a  thick,  driving  mist,  bringing  an  icy  sensation 
with  it  from  the  southward,  gave  evidence  that  we 
were  approaching  the  Cape  Horn  latitudes. 

"  Clew  the  fore  and  mizzentopsails  right  up,  Mr, 
Grafton  !  Send  some  hands  out  to  stow  the  jib — never 
mind  hauling  down  the  foretack — we  shall  have  to  reef 
the  foresail  soon.  Make  all  snug  as  fast  as  you  can, 
and  have  some  small  tackles  ready  for  securing  the 
lee-boats  to-night.  "  And  the  "  old  man  "  went  below 
to  find  some  dry  clothing,  and  to  indulge  his  feelings 
now  that  he  had  leisure  to  reflect  upon  the  loss  of  Mr. 
Johnson. 

The  Arethusa  was  soon  careening  to  the  blast  un 
der  her  close-reefed  maintopsail  and  staysails,  the 
whole  heavens  shrouded  in  gloom,  and,  as  the  shades 
of  night  drew  down  upon  the  wild  scene,  each  one 


Il8  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

seemed  to  realize  that  we  had  cause  of  congratulation 
in  the  fajt  of  our  timely  arrival  on  board,  and  shud 
dered  to  think  what  might  have  been  our  fate,  if  ex 
posed  an  hour  or  two  longer  in  open  boats,  had  the 
whale  run  us  some  distance  from  the  ship  before  the 
thick  weather  shut  down  hiding  her  from  view.  It  is 
at  such  times  that  the  seaman  feels  his  own  nothing 
ness,  and  realizes  his  dependence  on  the  mercy  of 
Heaven.  The  whaleman,  in  particular,  has  frequent 
cause  to  feel  how  narrowly  he  has  escaped  such  dan 
gers.  Even  other  mariners  have  little  idea  of  the  risks 
encountered  by  this  class  of  men  ;  for  whalemen  form 
the  only  branch  of  the  profession  who  may  be  truly 
said  to  make  their  home  on  the  ocean  ;  to  "  go  down 
to  the  sea  in  ships,"  while  others  skim  across  it ;  and 
in  a  literal  sense,  to  "  do  business  on  the  great  waters." 
Little  was  said  among  the  officers  about  the  dread 
ful  casualty  which  had  so  suddenly  removed  one  of 
their  number,  but  many  a  thrilling  story  went  round 
the  forecastle  that  night  from  the  old  hands,  the  more  im 
pressive  from  the  circumstance  of  the  speakers  lying 
in  their  berths,  with  the  darkness  relieved  by  only  one 
dimly-burning  lamp,  swaying  and  flickering  with  the 
motion  of  the  ship  in  the  gale — of  men  who  had  met 
violent  deaths  in  various  ways,  and  of  hairbreadth  es 
capes  of  others,  in  most  of  which  latter  cases,  the 
narrator  was,  of  course,  himself  the  hero  of  the  adven 
ture. 

Morning  broke  upon  the  stout  ship  still  lying  to 
under  short  canvas,  the  wind  howling  through  the  rig 
ging,  the  decks  drenched  with  spray,  and  everything 


WHALING  NEAR  THE  FALKLANDS.       I  IQ 

cold  and  cheerless.  The  gale,  however,  now  came  in 
fitful  gusts,  with  lulls  between  ;  in  evidence  that  it 
had  spent  its  force,  and  was  breaking  up.  The  morn 
ing  watch  were  collected  aft  on  the  lee  side  of  the 
deck,  while  Father  Grafton,  wrapped  in  pilotcloth, 
stood  holding  on  by  the  weather  quarter  rail,  and 
gazing  at  the  sky  to  windward,  observing  the  signs  of 
better  weather.  As  he  turned  and  threw  his  glance 
casually  off  to  leeward,  a  sudden  lighting  up  of  his 
countenance  told  that  something  had  arrested  his  at 
tention.  He  changed  his  position  for  a  better  view, 
and,  in  a  moment  more,  spoke: 

"  There  it  is  again.  Blo-o-ows  !  Sperm  whale1 — 
there's  white  water  !  wounded  whale,  too — I  know  by 
the  way  he  spouts.  That  must  be  the  whale  we 
struck  yesterday — Blo-o-ows  !  Steward  !  tell  Captain 
Upton  there's  a  sperm  whale  off  the  lee-beam  ! " 

It  was  unnecessary  to  tell  him,  for  he  was  just  step 
ping  out  of  the  cabin  at  the  moment. 

"  Where  away,  Mr.  Grafton  ?  "  Then,  as  his  quick 
eye  caught  the  smoke  of  the  spout  blowing  off,  "  Ah  ! 
yes!  I  see  him — there's  white  water.  Yes,  that's  the 
whale  that  killed  Mr.  Johnson.  O,  if  we  only  had 
good  weather  to  pay  him  off  for  it !  " 

Then  looking  to  windward,  "  How  is  the  weather, 
anyhow  ?  Can't  we  go  down  and  have  a  dig  at  him  ? 
No,  no,  it's  no  use  to  put  boats  down  into,  this  sea.  By 
thunder !  how  he  lies  there,  aggravating  us !  badly 
hurt,  too  ;  he  can't  go  much.  Got  both  irons  in  him, 
I  expect — I  couldn't  tell  about  the  second  iron.  Can't 
we  keep  the  run  of  him  till  the  weather  moderates  ?" 


I2O  THE    LOG    OF    THE   ARETHUSA. 

"  I  think  we  can,"  said  the  mate,  "  if  he  don't  work 
to  windward — and  I  don't  think  he  will.  He  must 
have  gone  just  about  the  drift  of  the  ship  through  th 
night.  We  might  kill  him  from  the  ship,  but  then  we 
couldn't  secure  him  afterwards,  and  we  should  drift  to 
leeward  of  him." 

"  I'd  like  to  have  the  killing  of  him ! "  said  the  cap 
tain,  eagerly.  "  I  want  a  little  revenge  on  that  whale, 
and  I  would  rather  kill  him  than  any  other  one  in  the 
ocean."  Another  impatient  look  to  windward,  "  No, 
no,  we  can't  use  the  boats.  The-e-ere's  white  water 
again  !  We'll  try  him  with  the  ship  anyhow.  Get 
some  lances  ready,  and  we'll  run  down  there  and  have 
a  fling  at  him — if  we  lose  a  lance  or  two  it's  no  great 
matter — we'll  have  revenge  at  any  rate.  It's  moder 
ating  every  minute,  eh,  Mr.  Grafton?" 

"  Yes,  sir ;  and  there's  the  sun  trying  to  break 
through  the  clouds  yonder.  I  think  we  shall  have 
good  weather  in  an  hour  or  two." 

"  Yes,  but  it  will  take  some  time  for  the  sea  to  go 
down.  Get  your  lances  ready  !  Here,  Blacksmith, 
bend  the  end  of  that  line  to  the  lance  warp.  We 
mustn't  check  too  short,  Mr.  Grafton,  or  we'll  lose  all 
our  lances." 

The  whale  was  not  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
off,  bearing  a  little  abaft  the  beam,  or  nearly  dead  to 
leeward,  and  appeared  to  be  too  badly  hurt  to  go  down. 
All  hands  were  on  deck  to  assist  in  the  sport,  and 
lances  were  hastily  prepared  at  various  points  along 
the  starboard  side  of  the  ship. 

"  Hard  up  your  helm,  there  !  "  shouted  the   captaia 


WHALING    NEAR   THE    FALKLANDS.  121 

"  Run  down  the  mizzen-staysail,  and  shiver  in  the 
mainyard !  Here,  Jeff,  I  want  you  at  the  wheel,  and 
mind  the  word,  quick.  See  the  whale  now,  Mr.  Dun 
ham  ?  Yes,  there  he  is — let  her  go  off  more  yet.  Well, 
the  mainyard  !  Belay  that — haul  taut  the  lee-braces. 
Stead-y !  meet  her  quick,  Jeff — stand  by  your  lances 
now."  And  Captain  Upton  ran  to  his  place  by  the 
starboard  fore-swifter,  and  Mr.  Grafton  into  the  fore- 
chains  abaft  him,  while  the  second  mate  stood  ready 
in  the  waist,  and  the  boatsteerers,  armed  with  similar 
weapons,  fqund  eligible  stations  still  further  in  reserve. 

The  ship  was  now  booming  off  under  good  headway, 
rolling  heavily  in  the  trough  of  the  sea.  "  Starboard 
a  little,  Jeff — so,  steady  !  meet  her,  quick,  meet  her. 
Port  a  little — so,  steady  as  you  go  now!"  said  the  eager 
and  excited  captain,  coursing  the  ship  so  as  to  shave 
just  clear  of  the  whale,  who  lay  "  sagging  "  up  and 
down  in  his  element,  and  occasionally  blowing,  the 
spout  having  a  faint  and  broken  appearance  as  if  forced 
from  him  by  a  painful  effort. 

As  we  drew  near,  the  iron  could  be  distinctly  seen 
in  his  back,  the  pole  hanging  down  by  his  side,  and 
soon  as  he  raised  his  flukes  to  thrash  the  sea  in  his 
agony,  the  other  one  was  discovered  in  his  "small." 
The  last  effort  of  a  dying  man  had  driven  it  home ! 

"  Now,  then,  stand  by,  all  of  you,"  said  the  captain, 
in  a  suppressed  voice.  "  We  shall  have  a  good  chance, 
but  it's  awkward  darting,  if  we  don't  catch  the  roll  of 
the  ship  right.  If  I  miss  him,  Mr.  Grafton,  don't 
you  /" 

At  the  moment  the  whale  was  abreast  the  martin- 


122  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

gale,  he  moved  his  hand  to  port  the  helm,  and  stand 
by  the  braces. 

"Novv's  our  time!  "as  the  next  roll  of  the  ship 
brought  her  fore-channels  nearly  into  the  water  just 
at  the  right  moment,  and  both  lances  entered  the 
whale's  body  at  the  same  instant,  driven  to  the  socket. 

"  Hard  a  port !  Brace  up  the  mainyard !  Bear  a 
hand,  and  ler  her  come  to  the  wind ! " 

The  whale  had  buried  himself  beneath  the  surface, 
on  receiving  the  deadly  steel.  The  captain's  lance 
drew  out,  but  Mr.  Grafton's  warp  was  snapped  like  a 
thread,  and  the  lance  was  left  in  his  body.  The  re 
serves  had  no  chance  to  grease  their  weapons. 

"Run  up  that  mizzen-staysail !  "  shouted  the  "old 
man,"  as  the  ship  was  brought  rapidly  to  the  wind, 
shipping  a  considerable  body  of  water  forward,  which 
luckily  did  no  damage. 

"  Where's  the  whale  ?  I  see  the  bloody  water  here 
on  the  quarter.  Up  aloft,  two  or  three  of  ye,  and  keep 
a  sharp  eye  out  for  him  ! " 

The  order  was  superfluous,  for  half  a  dozen  were 
already  in  the  rigging  at  different  points. 

"  Loose  the  foresail,  Mr.  Grafton,  fore  and  mizzentop- 
sails,  too.  We  mustn't  drift  off  any  more — it's  going 
to  moderate  ;  and  we  may  be  able  to  keep  the  run  of 
him.  There  he  blo-o-ows !  right  astern  !  blood  thick 
as  tar\  "  roared  Captain  Upton,  wild  with  excitement, 
as  the  immense  spermaceti  rose  in  the  ship's  wake,  and 
the  blood-red  cloud  blown  off  to  leeward  from  his 
spiracle,  told  that  the  death  of  Mr.  Johnson  was 
avenged. 


WHALING   NEAR   THE    FALKLANDS.  123 

The  weather  had  materially  improved  by  the  time  the 
topsails  were  sheeted  home  and  set.  Vigilant  eyes  at 
the  masthead  observed  the  whale's  movement,  and  in 
time  the  ship  wore  round  and  stood  along  near  him  in 
time  to  see  him  go  in  his  dying  "  flurry "  within  a 
short  distance  of  his  relentless  enemies.  The  sea 
would  not  admit  of  a  boat  being  lowered  to  take 
possession  ;  but  he  was  kept  in  sight  by  watching  the 
"  slick,"  and  manoeuvring  on  short  tacks  all  the  fore 
noon. 

After  dinner,  the  gale  having  abated  to  a  whole 
topsail  breeze,  and  the  sea  gone  down  so  that  a  boat 
with  a  picked  crew  and  careful  management  might 
venture  to  cut  a  hole,  the  larboard  boat  was  lowered, 
and  after  considerable  difficulty  he  was  hauled  along 
side  and  fluked.  The  cutting  gear  was  got  up,  and  the 
work  driven  with  all  possible  expedition,  for  moderate 
weather  was  not  to  be  depended  upon  for  any  length 
of  time  in  these  latitudes.  Still,  it  was  three  o'clock 
by  the  time  we  got  fairly  hooked  on,  and  what  with 
surging  and  parting,  and  tearing  out  hooks,  little  pro 
gress  was  made,  and  at  dark  we  "  lashed  down, "  and 
knocked  off  our  arduous  duty  with  one  blanket  piece  in 
the  blubber-room,  the  whale's  body  riding  by  the  large 
flukechain,  and  the  head  cut  off  and  secured  along 
side  by  the  small  chain  and  two  parts  of  a  large  new 
hawser.  The  wind  was  hauling  to  the  westward,  and 
blowing  on  another  gale.  All  sail  was  taken  in,  and 
the  watches  set ;  darkness  shut  down  its  dread  pall 
around,  and  the  howling  of  the  night  storm  was  ren 
dered  more  dismal  by  the  screams  of  thousands  of  rav- 


124  THE    LOG   OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

enous  albatrosses  sitting  in  the  "slick"  to  windward 
of  the  ship,  and  the  clanking  and  surging  of  the  fluke- 
chain  as  it  quivered  under  the  terrific  strain.  At  mid 
night  the  small  chain  attached  to  the  head  parted,  but 
by  veering  away  a  longer  scope  on  the  ropes  the  pon 
derous  mass  seemed  to  ride  easier  than  before.  The 
ropes  held  bravely  till  four  o'clock,  when  weakened  by 
long-continued  stretch,  strain  and  chafe,  they  gave 
way  ;  and  the  valuable  head,  containing  at  least  forty 
barrels  of  sperm,  went  dancing  off  upon  a  mountain 
wave,  and  could  be  seen  from  time  to  time  flashing  up 
through  the  darkness,  till  it  was  lost  to  view  in  the 
gloom  to  windward. 

The  fluke-chain  still  hung,  but  the  gale  and  sea  in 
creasing  every  moment,  the  strain  at  last  became  too 
powerful  even  for  its  great  strength, and  it  snapped  about 
daylight  with  the  report  of  a  gun.  The  wind  had 
hauled  round  gradually  by  north-west,  and  was  now 
nearly  at  north,  and  fair  for  the  course  on  which  we 
were  bound.  Captain  Upton  was  on  deck  when  the 
chain  parted,  and  looked  with  longing  eyes  off  the 
weather  quarter  at  the  lost  prize  till  it  could  be  seen  no 
longer  ;  then,  satisfied  no  more  could  be  done  to  save 
it,  he  ordered  the  helm  up,  and,  setting  the  foresail  and 
close-reefed  fore  and  maintopsails,  the  proud  ship  once 
more  bounded  before  the  favorable  gale,  laying  her 
course  inside  of  the  Falklands  for  Cape  Horn. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

PROMOTION. "  COOPER'S     NOVELS." THE    MATE    MOR 
ALIZES. CAPE    HORN. 

THE  vacancy  occasioned  by  the  death  of  Mr.  John 
son  was  filled  by  the  promotion  of  Bunker  to  be  third 
mate  ;  and  the  next  matter  for  consideration  was  the 
selection  of  a  boatsteerer  for  the  larboard  boat.  The 
two  Nantucket  boys  were  not,  as  yet,  old  enough  or 
stout  enough  for  this  duty.  Old  Jeff  and  the  two 
Portuguese,  from  their  experience,  were  eligible  candi 
dates  ;  but  it  seems  Father  Grafton  had  determined, 
so  far  as  he  was  concerned,  to  promote  his  bowman  to 
that  office.  Captain  Upton,  as  I  afterwards  learned, 
was  disposed  to  leave  the  choice  in  the  mate's  hands, 
merely  reminding  him  of  the  necessity  of  due  con 
sideration  in  a  matter  so  important.  "  You  know," 
said  he,  "  we  can't  afford  to  have  whales  missed. 
However,  '  Blacksmith  '  seems  a  likely  young  man 
about  the  ship,  and  as  for  his  conduct  in  a  boat  you 
are  better  qualified  to  judge  than  I  am,  as  he  has  been 
at  your  bow  oar.  So,  if  you  think  he  will  do  his  work, 
try  him.  Let  him  have  one  chance,  at  any  rate  ;  we 
must  run  a  risk  with  somebody." 

The  weather  had  moderated  at  this  time  so  that  the 
ship  was  running  under  whole  topsails  ;  and  a  new 


126  THE   LOG   OF   THE   ARETHUSA. 

boat  had  already  been  taken  from  overhead,  and  was 
in  process  of  fitting  for  service  to  take  her  place  on 
the  starboard  cranes. 

The  word  was  passed  for  "  Blacksmith  "  to  appear 
on  the  quarter  deck.  The  old  man  and  Father  Graf- 
ton  \vere  in  consultation  as  I  came  aft  and  stood 
under  their  lee,  respectfully  waiting  for  orders. 

"  Blacksmith,"  asked  the  captain,  turning  suddenly 
upon  me,  "  can  you  strike  a  whale  ?  " 

"  I  think  I  could,  sir,  if  I  was  within  reach  of  him," 
I  answered. 

"  Do  you  want  to  try  yourself  ? "  he  asked. 

"  Yes,  sir,"  said  I  quietly,  and  yet  confidently,  too. 

"  Remember,"  said  the  old  man,  "  if  you  fail  once, 
with  a  good  chance,  you  must  give  it  up  and  let  some 
body  else  come  in.  We  can't  affort  to  have  any 
' foopaw 3*  Mr.  Grafton  thinks  you  will  do  it  well, 
and  has  said  a  good  word  for  you." 

I  bowed  my  acknowledgments  to  the  mate  for  his 
good  opinion,  and  said  something  I  cannot  tell  what, 
to  the  effect  that  I  would  endeavor  to  justify  it.  Had 
I  been  previously  notified,  I  might  have  had  a  "  neat 
and  appropriate  speech  "  prepared  for  the  occasion. 

"  I  want  you  to  remember,"  resumed  the  old  man, 
"  when  you  go  alongside  of  a  whale,  that  the  voyage 
is  depending  upon  you.  Get  a  good  scote,  and  grit  the 
ends  of  your  front  teeth  right  off !  If  you  do  your 
work,  I'll  see  that  you  are  paid  the  lay.  You  may 

*  The  general  reader  may  not  be  aware  that  the  word  "  foopaw." 
in  nautical  parlance,  means  a  failure  or  bungling  performance  of  any 
duty.  Evidently  a  corruption  of  the  French  "faux pas" 


PROMOTION "COOPER'S    NOVELS,"    ETC. 

take  charge  of  the  larboard  boat's  craft,  and  rig  the 
irons  to  suit  your  own  hand.  Bring  your  traps  aft  to 
night,  and  take  up  your  quarters  in  the  cabin  ;  and 
understand,  if  you  live  aft,  I  expect  to  find  you  aft, 
except  when  your  duty  calls  you  forward." 

"  Thank  you,  sir,"  I  answered,  "  I'll  do  the  best  I 
can." 

"  That's  all  I  want,"  said  the  captain,  with  a  wink 
of  intelligence  to  his  mate,  as  if  to  say,  "  he'll  do." 

The  change  was  soon  made.  I  transferred  myself 
and  my  effects  to  the  region  of  forks  and  dishes,  and 
became,  at  short  notice,  a  petty  officer,  and  member 
of  the  House  of  Lords,  after  only  three  months'  actual 
service  at  sea.  My  companions  in  the  "  bull-room  " 
were  more  select  and  less  numerous  than  in  the  fore 
castle,  consisting  of  young  Fisher,  the  boatsteerer,  the 
veracious  cooper,  and  the  Portuguese  steward  and 
cabin-boy.  I  had  now  the  full  benefit  of  the  cooper's 
yarns,  and  he  did  not  fail  to  entertain  me  with  some 
choice  specimens  of  Munchausenism  during  the  first 
watch  below  that  evening. 

"  Well,  Blacksmith,"  said  he,  "  you've  seen  a  little 
of  the  other  side  of  the  picture,  and  you  are  satisfied 
that  all  whales  are  not  taken  so  easily  as  that  first  one 
off  the  Western  Islands.  Not  that  I  think  this  last 
one  was  a  bad  whale  at  all,  but  any  whale  is  liable  to 
get  an  unlucky  clip  at  a  boat  when  he  feels  the  iron. 
Then  you  see,  it  was  rugged  weather,  and  the  boat 
was  going  to  leeward  under  good  headway,  so  it  was 
awkward  work  to  keep  clear  of  him." 

"'Twas  all  an  accident,"  said  Fisher,  who  had  come 


128  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

down  to  light  his  pipe,  "  as  it  always  is,  /think.  O! 
course,  if  you  throw  an  iron  into  a  whale,  he'll  kick 
and  struggle  just  as  you  or  I  would  ;  and  if  a  boat 
happens  to  be  right  in  his  way,  why,  the  hardest  fends 
off.  And  that's  the  way  all  boats  are  stove,  /  believe. 
I  never  saw  a  whale  that  I  thought  meant  to  stave  a 
boat." 

"  Didn't  you  ?  "  inquired  the  cooper.  "  Well,  hold 
on,  Fisher,  perhaps  you'll  go  another  voyage  and  still 
not  see  a  regular  fighting  whale.  I  hope  so,  at  any 
rate.  But  it's  no  use  for  you  to  tell  me  there  aint 
any,  because  I  know  better.  I  could  tell  you  about 
a  scrape  we  had  in  the  Deucalion,  only  I  don't  want 
to  scare  you  young  fellows." 

"  O,  fire  away  !  "  said  Fisher.  "  You  wont  frighten 
me  nor  Blacksmith.  What  was  it,  that  same  whale 
that  was  so  long  you  had  to  sling  stages  over  the  stern 
to  cut  his  head  off  ?  " 

"  No,  indeed,"  replied  the  cooper,  "  that  was  in  the 
Bajazet.  No,  this  was  only  a  forty-barrel  bull,  and 
the  worst  of  it  was,  we  didn't  cut  him  in  at  all.  He 
stove  all  four  boats  for  us,  and  chawed  them  up  into 
splinters.  We  got  out  the  last  boat  we  had  from 
overhead,  and  picked  up  the  men,  and  the  whale  chased 
us  all  the  way  to  the  ship.  We  pulled  all  we  knew, 
and  got  alongside,  hooked  on,  and  had  the  boat  raised 
out  of  the  water,  when  the  old  fellow  shoved  his  jaw 
out  and  grabbed  her  right  out  of  the  tackles  !  Such 
a  crashing  and  splintering  of  cedar  boards  you  never 
saw  or  heard  as  when  he  shut  down  upon  her.  The 
two  men  that  were  hooking  on  grabbed  the  tackles 


PROMOTION. — "COOPER'S    NOVELS,"    ETC.          1 29 

and  shinned  for  dear  life.  But  he  wasn't  satisfied 
with  that  mouthful,  for  he  undertook  to  chaw  the 
ship.  But  old  Captain  Harper  hadn't  forgotten  the 
Essex  story,  and  we  made  all  sail  to  get  out  of  his 
way  ;  for,  mind  ye,  if  he  had  started  a  leak  in  the  old 
ship,  we  hadn't  a  boat  left  to  save  ourselves  in.  He 
chased  us  about  four  hours,  but  he  was  somewhat 
weakened  from  loss  of  blood,  for  he  had  seven  irons 
and  four  lances  sticking  in  him.  We  were  in  hopes 
he  would  turn  up  in  the  ship's  wake,  but  he  seemed 
to  find  out  at  last  that  a  stern  chase  was  a  long  one, 
and  gave  it  up.  The  last  we  saw  of  him  he  was  going 
to  windward,  spouting  clear.  About  a  fortnight  after 
wards,  we  spoke  the  Termagant,  and  they  gave  us 
our  craft.  They  had  picked  him  up,  dead,  and  when 
we  came  to  compare  reckonings,  we  found  it  was 
about  three  hundred  and  fifty  miles  from  where  we 
lost  sight  of  him  !  " 

"  How  long  was  it  before  they  found  him  ?"  asked 
Fisher. 

"  The  second  day  after  we  struck  him,"  replied  the 
cooper,  not  seeing  the  drift  of  the  question. 

"  Well,  he  must  have  picked  up  his  strength  ama 
zingly  after  he  started  to  windward.  You  say  he 
couldn't  go  fast  enough  to  leeward  to  overtake  the 
ship,  and  yet  he  went  three  hundred  and  fifty  miles 
to  windward  in  a  matter  of  thirty-six  hours  :  that's 
about  ten  knots  an  hour." 

"  I  don't  care  if  it  is  ;  he  couldn't  keep  up  with  the 
old  Deucalion  when  we  put  her  oft  with  the  wind  on 
her  quarter." 

9 


I3O  THE    LOG   OF   THE   ARETHUSA. 

"  Why,  how  fast  would  she  go  ?  " 

"  Seventeen  knot,  easy,"  answered  the  cooper  with 
the  utmost  gravity. 

"  There,  that'll  do,"  said  Fisher.  "  It's  time  I  went 
on  deck.  Whenever  I  can  believe  that  old  wagon  of 
a  ship  went  seventeen  knots,  then  I  shall  be  ready  to 
believe  in  these  eating  whales.  But  you  haven't  got 
tobacco  enough  to  make  me  hoist  in  either." 

"  It's  no  use  for  him  to  talk,"  said  the  cooper  after 
Fisher  was  gone.  "  If  he  goes  whaling  as  long  as  I 
have  been,  perhaps  he'll  see  an  eating  whale.  I  reckon 
it's  breezing  on  by  the  sound  on  deck.  Yes,  down 
goes  the  coil  of  the  maintopsail  halyards,  and  here 
they  come  stamping  aft.  I  think  the  wind  will  haul 
ahead  before  morning,  and  then  we  may  as  well  make 
out  our  log  for  three  or  four  weeks,  beating  and  bang 
ing  to  get  round  the  horn.  Well,  it's  all  in  the  course 
of  a  voyage.  I  was  seventy  days  off  the  Cape  in  the 
Bajazet,  and  it  never  lulled  enough  to  get  the  fore 
and  mizzen  topsails  on  her." 

"  Must  have  been  pleasant,"  I  muttered,  half  asleep. 

"  Pleasant  !  yes.  Plenty  to  eat,  and  nothing  to  do 
but  wear  round  now  and  then.  The  worst  of  it  was, 
the  ship  was  so  crank  we  had  to  travel  on  our  ankles 
altogether,  and  when  it  did  moderate,  we'd  lost  the 
power  of  using  our  feet  like  human — " 

I  was  by  this  time  fast  locked,  and  I  presume  that 
my  snoring  reminded  the  inveterate  yarn-spinner  that 
he  might  as  well  follow  suit  as  to  waste  his  breath. 

His  predictions  proved  more  reliable  that  his  nar 
ratives  ;  for  when  our  watch  turned  out,  the  ship  was 


PROMOTION. — "COOPER'S    NOVELS,"    ETC.         13! 

under  double  reefs  with  the  wind  at  south-west,  and 
squally.  There  was  nothing  to  do,  however,  unless  it 
"  breezed  on "  harder.  So,  after  seeing  that  the 
watch  were  all  within  call  and  the  lookout  set,  we 
made  ourselves  comfortable  under  the  hurricane  home 
for  the  new  ship  boasted  that  appendage  among  her 
modern  improvements. 

"  When  I  first  went  to  sea,"  said  Father  Grafton, 
"  we  would  have  laughed  at  the  notion  of  building 
such  a  covering  as  this,  as  we  would  at  many  other 
things  which  are  now  quite  common,  and  which,  a 
few  years  hence,  will  be  looked  upon  as  necessary. 
i  nere's  the  patent  windlass  :  it's  the  first  one  that  I 
have  been  shipmate  with,  but  I  suppose  after  I  have 
been  this  voyage,  I  should  hardly  know  how  to  go  to 
sea  again  with  an  old-fashioned  back-breaker.  Why, 
on  my  first  voyage,  we  didn't  even  have  purchase  bars 
at  the  windlass  ends  ;  nothing  but  the  handspikes, 
and  it  was  heave,  Dick,  and  heave,  Tom,  for  I  hove 
last." 

"And  yet  you  used  to  get  large  whales  and  cut 
them  in,"  said  Mr.  Bunker. 

"Yes,  that's  true.  Some  people  will  tell  you  that 
they  did  it  as  quickly  and  as  easily  then  as  we  do 
nowadays  ;  but  I  can't  confirm  that.  We  used  to 
manage  it,  after  a  fashion.  It  is  true  enough,  there's 
no  knowing  what  men  can  do  till  they  are  put  to  it. 
There  is  a  great  deal  of  nonsense  talked  by  some  old- 
school  sailors  about  the  good  old  fashions  and  good 
old  days  when  we  made  short  voyages,  and  got  full 
ships  in  almost  every  instance  ;  and  they  pretend  to 


132  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

say  that  there  were  better  whalemen  in  those  days 
than  now.  But  that's  all  moonshine.  There  were 
more  whales  to  be  seen,  and  they  were  easier  struck 
than  now.  If  we  struck  one  and  lost  him,  why,  ten  to 
one,  we  saw  another  next  day  and  got  him  ;  and  so 
the  lost  one  was  forgotten.  But  now  we  see  them  so 
seldom  we  can't  so  well  afford  to  lose  one,  and,  with 
our  improved  gear  and  increased  knowledge,  it  is 
unreasonable  to  suppose  that  we  lose  as  many  as  our 
fathers  did.  I  think,  if  the  statistics  of  voyages  could 
be  collected  and  compared,  we  should  prove  that  we 
are  better  whalemen  than  they  were  ;  that  is  to  say, 
that  we  get  much  more  oil  in  proportion  to  the  oppor 
tunities  we  meet  with.  I  know  that  such  has  been 
the  fact  in  my  own  experience  of  twenty-five  years." 

"  You  would  find  it  rather  hard  to  make  some  of 
the  old  retired  shipmasters  believe  that,"  said  Mr. 
Bunker. 

"  I  know  it.  Some  of  them  have  an  idea  even  now, 
that  they  could  come  out  with  a  ship,  and  turn  them 
up  on  Peru  and  Chili  just  as  fast  as  they  used  to. 
And  every  now  and  then  some  heroic  old  gentleman 
takes  a  start,  and  comes  out  here  to  show  us  how  it's 
done,  and  goes  home  again  with  half  a  cargo  of  oil, 
and  a  flea  in  his  ear.  More  than  one  instance  occurs 
to  me  at  this  moment.  Whales  are  not  so  plenty  now 
that  we  can  practice  the  game  that  Cooper  tells  us 
about  on  his  first  voyage." 

"  What  was  that,  sir  ?  "  I  inquired. 

"  Cooper  tells  that  they  used  to  throw  bricks  at 
them  to  see  whether  they  would  kick,  before  they 


PROMOTION. — "COOPER'S    NOVELS,"    ETC.          133 

went  on  to  strike  them.  By  the  way,  he  was  spinning 
you  a  tough  yarn  to-night.  My  room  door  was  open 
and  I  could  hear  most  of  it.  What  do  you  think 
about  that  eating  whale,  Blacksmith  ? " 

"  I  hardly  know  how  much  of  it  to  believe,"  said  I. 
"  Are  there  really  any  such  whales  as  he  tells  of, 
sir." 

"  Why,  yes,  now  and  then  one  ;  though  I  think 
the  cases  are  very  rare  where  whales  make  a  deliberate 
attack.  I  have  never  yet  seen  one  myself,  but  I  have 
sailed  with  others  who  have.  Captain  Upton  tells  me 
he  has  seen  two  or  three  in  his  life,  and  I  don't  think 
he  can  be  mistaken.  We  have  all  heard  of  the 
Essex  affair  to  which  the  cooper  alluded,  and  the 
dreadful  sufferings  of  the  crew.  I  remember  it  well, 
for  I  was  cruising  on  Chili  at  that  time  in  the  Plutarch, 
and  from  the  statements  of  the  survivors,  it  is  plain 
enough  that  that  whale  went  to  work  deliberately  and 
with  malice  prepense,  as  the  lawyers  would  say,  to 
destroy  the  ship.  The  cooper's  yarn  is,  doubtless, 
partly  true ;  but  you  know  by  this  time,  that  a  story 
loses  nothing  in  his  telling.  He  has,  very  likely,  seen 
two  or  even  three  boats  stoven  by  one  whale,  so  that 
his  romance  is,  like  many  others,  '  founded  on  facts. ' " 

"  Do  you  think  he  believes  his  own  stories,  sir  ? "  I 
asked 

"  I  really  can't  say.  It  is  a  phenomenon  that  has 
puzzled  me  for  many  years.  I  don't  mean  in  his 
particular  case,  for  he  is  only  one  of  a  class,  and  I 
myself  have  sailed  with  two  or  three  others  who  could 
equal  him  in  drawing  the  long  bow.  Sensible  men 


134  THE    LOG    OF    THE   ARETHUSA. 

they  were,  too,  in  other  respects,  and,  even  remarkably 
free  from  some  other  vices  to  which  seamen  are 
addicted  ;  but  lying  seemed  to  be  constitutional  with 
them,  or  else  they  had  cultivated  the  habit  till  they 
had  lost  all  control  of  themselves.  And  they  seemed 
impervious  to  shame  in  this  one  particular  only.  You 
have  read  Peter  Simple,  I  suppose  ? " 

"  Yes,  sir,"  I  answered.  "  You  are  thinking  of 
Captain  Kearney,  sir  ? " 

"  Yes.  When  I  first  read  it,  I  thought  Marryatt  had 
sketched  a  very  extravagant  character  in  Captain 
Kearney,  but  I  have  since  become  more  reconciled  to 
it,  and  don't  think  it  much  caricatured  after  all.  I 
think  that  a  man  may  contract  an  absorbing  passion 
for  lying  as  well  as  for  strong  drink,  and  be  ready  to 
go  all  lengths  to  gratify  it.  We  see  every  day  in 
stances  of  men,  with  a  thousand  noble  qualities,  who 
are  slaves  to  liquor,  and  seem  to  have  lost  all  self-con 
trol  in  that  one  respect.  Now  the  cooper  is  a  steady, 
sober  man  and  a  capital  fellow,  aside  from  this  singu 
lar  propensity  ;  but  I  firmly  believe  that,  like  Captain 
Kearney,  he  will  die  with  a  lie  in  his  throat.  How  do 
you  head,  Kelly  ? " 

"  South-east,  sir." 

"  Knocking  off,  eh  ?  Well  —  stand  by  to  wear 
ship  ! " 

The  conversation  was  broken  off,  and  was  not 
resumed  again  for  this  watch. 

The  next  morning,  it  being  more  moderate,  spouts 
were  seen  to  leeward,  and  the  ship  kept  off  for  them. 
The  new  boat  was  pronounced  ready  for  action  at 


PROMOTION. "COOPERS    NOVELS,       ETC.          135 

short  notice,  and  all  was  excitement  and  expectation 
for  a  few  minutes  ;  but  the  cry  of  "  forked  spout !  "  put 
a  damper  on  our  hopes. 

"  Right  whales  !  "  said  the  old  man.  "  Brace  up  and 
let  her  come  to  again  ! " 

"  Let's  go  down  and  try  'em  ? "  petitioned  Mr.  Dun 
ham. 

"No,  I  sha'n't  bother  with'  em.  If  we  can't  get 
sperm  oil,  we'll  go  home  empty-handed.  Keep  her 
along  full  and  by !  Look  sharp  there  aloft  for  another 
kind.  These  whales  have  got  too  many  spout-holes 
for  my  use." 

It  was  even  so  with  Nantucket  whalemen  at  the  period 
of  which  I  am  writing.  A  whale  who  showed  evidence 
of  having  two  spiracles  was  not  worth  bothering  about. 
And  even  for  years  after  the  great  North-west  whaling 
grounds  were  opened,  and  rich  returns  were  pouring 
into  New  Bedford,  New  London  and  other  whaling 
ports,  the  islanders,  the  pioneers  of  whaling,  still  clung 
to  their  old  faith  and  plodded  on  over  their  old 
grounds,  picking  up  a  sperm  whale  now  and  then,  and 
spending  four  years  or  more  to  get,  in  most  instances, 
about  half  a  cargo.  They  ignored  the  great  Nor' west ; 
it  was  a  myth ;  the  very  sound  of  it  a  great  bugbear. 
"  Spermaceti  or  empty  casks  "  was  their  platform  for 
many  years  ;  and  then  at  last  they  woke  from  this 
delusion,  it  was  too  late  ;  the  cream  had  been  skimmed 
from  the  northern  grounds,  and  the  palmiest  days  of 
right  whaling  were  over. 

"  Have  you  ever  been  right  whaling,  Cooper  ? "  I 
asked  after  the  stir  was  over  and  all  was  quiet  again. 


136  THE   LOG    OF    THE   ARETHUSA. 

"  Right  whaling  ?  yes,  two  voyages  on  the  Banks. 
Talk  about  fighting  whales !  You  ought  to  see  one  of 
those  fellows  pick  his  teeth  with  the  corner  of  his 
flukes." 

"  How's  dat,  when  dey's  got  no  teeth  ? "  asked  the 
cook,  who  stood  within  hearing. 

"  They've  no  teeth,  strictly  speaking,  that's  true ; 
but  they've  slabs  of  bone  which  amounts  to  the  same 
thing  for  all  the  purposes  of  the  story.  I've  seen  'em 
do  it  many  a  time — slat  their  flukes  from  eye  to  eye. 
Whip-lashes  are  nothing  to  'em." 

"  Make  more  oil  than  sperm  whales,  don't  they  ?  "  I 
asked. 

"  Yes,  such  as  'tis — make  four  or  five  hundred  bar 
rels  sometimes ! " 

"  Do  they  ever  eat  up  boats  ?  "  I  inquired. 

"  No,  never  fight  with  their  heads  ;  they  wear  '  bon 
nets  '  on  their  heads,  and  I  suppose  they  don't  like  to 
rumple  them." 

"  What  are  they  made  of  ? "  asked  Fisher.  "  Gauze 
and  ribbons  ? " 

"  No— lice  and  barnacles,"  said  the  cooper. 

"  Do  the  bulls  wear  bonnets,  too  ? " 

"  Yes,  of  course." 

"  Do  they  have  new  bonnets  as  often  as  the  fashions 
change  ? " 

The  only  answer  was  a  warlike  demonstration 
with  a  squilgee  that  lay  at  hand  ;  and  Fisher  beat  a 
retreat. 

We  met  the  strong  westerly  winds  as  we  approach 
ed  the  latitude  of  the  dreaded  Horn,  which  is  seldom 


PROMOTION. —  "COOPER'S    NOVELS,"    ETC.          137 

to  be  caught  asleep  on  the  outward  passage,  the  pre 
vailing  winds  having  almost  the  regularity  of  trades  as 
to  direction  ;  and  for  three  weeks  they  blew  south-west 
and  west,  so  that  all  hands  were  well  initiated  to  the 
beauties  of  this  delectable  corner  of  the  world.  We 
were  obliged  to  keep  mostly  on  the  starboard  tack,  and 
stretch  to  the  southward  nearly  to  the  latitude  of 
sixty  degrees,  which  brought  us  completely  out  of  the 
track  of  homeward-bound  ships,  who,  with  the  same 
winds  would  hug  the  land  and  give  it  the  go-by  under  a 
press  of  canvas.  "  Begins  with  strong  gales  from  west- 
south-west  and  rugged  sea,"  became  a  standing  form  of 
entry  in  our  journals  till  we  tired  of  the  sight  of  the 
words ;  and  day  by  day  our  stout  ship  struggled,  and  wal 
lowed  and  tumbled  about,  till  our  patience  was  well-nigh 
exhausted.  Heavy  squalls,  accompanied  by  a  peculiar, 
sharp  hail,  which  cut  our  flesh  like  small  shot,  some 
times  varied  the  entertainment.  Yarns,  as  usual,  whiled 
away  the  dreary  night  watches ;  the  experiences  of 
former  voyages  were  referred  to,  and  the  changes  rung 
upon  them  ;  the  cooper  drew  his  bow  with  a  strong 
hand  and  heaped  Pelion  upon  Ossa  in  the  way  of  false 
hood  ;  while  Father  Grafton  entertained  us  with  more 
reliable  stories,  not  only  of  his  own  experiences,  but 
of  those  of  other  voyayers,  going  back  to  the  days  of 
LeMaire  and  Schouten,  who  gave  the  cape  its  name, 
and  coming  down  through  the  eras  of  Anson  and  Cook 
to  the  voyage  of  the  little  ship  Beaver,  of  Nantucket, 
the  pioneer  of  Pacific  whaling,  which  doubled  the 
Horn  in  1791,  and  made  her  voyage  in  seventeen 
months.  His  memory  was  well  stored  with  facts  of 


138  THE    LOG    OF    THE   ARETHUSA. 

this  kind,  and  so  arranged  that  he  could  draw  freely 
upon  them  as  they  were  wanted.  A  most  entertaining 
companion  was  our  worthy  chief  officer,  and  the  night 
watches  slipped  away  much  more  pleasantly  to  me 
since  my  change  of  station  had  brought  me  nearer  to 
him. 

After  standing'  so  far  south,  we  could  do  something 
on  the  other  tack,  taking  the  advantage  of  slants  of 
wind.  Our  progress  was  slow  and  wearisome  ;  but 
perseverance  at  last  prevailed  over  all  obstacles,  the 
redoubtable  headland  was  doubled  without  further 
accident  than  the  loss  of  another  boat  washed  off  the 
waist  cranes  in  a  gale,  and  a  few  days  more  saw  the 
gallant  Arethusa  doing  her  best  to  make  up  for  her 
lost  time  ;  as,  seemingly  conscious  of  her  tardiness, 
and  rejoicing  in  her  freedom  from  Antarctic  thraldom, 
she  went  rolling  down  the  coasts  of  Patagonia  and 
Chili  before  a  "  long  and  strong  souther." 


CHAPTER  XII. 

FISHING   AT  JUAN    FERNANDEZ. FIGHT  WITH  AN    UGLY 

WHALE. 

"  BLACKSMITH,  how  long  is  it  since  you  read  Rob 
inson  Crusoe  ? "  asked  the  mate,  as  he  stopped  in  his 
walk  near  the  mainmast,  and  leaned  against  the  top 
sail-sheet  bitts.  "  Some  years,  I  suppose  ?" 

"  No,  sir,"  said  I.  "  The  last  time  I  read  it  was  less 
than  one  year  ago,  and  I  found  it  as  fresh  and  enter 
taining  as  ever." 

"  No  doubt  of  it,"  replied  Father  Grafton.  "  Noth 
ing  connected  with  my  schoolboy  days  has  so  firmly 
stamped  itself  on  my  memory  as  the  appearance  of 
the  old  copy  of  Crusoe,  that  I  owned  for  many  years ; 
indeed,  I  carried  it  to  sea  with  me  on  my  first  voyage, 
and  it  was  accidentally  lost  overboard.  I  can  see  the 
brown  paper  and  the  quaint  old  type  with  its  /  and 
long  s  so  dangerously  alike,  and  its  horrible  woodcuts  ! 
for  it  was  a  copy  of  a  very  old  edition,  and  had,  no 
doubt,  delighted  two  or  three  generations  of  boys  be 
fore  it  fell  into  my  hands.  But  what  reminded  me  of 
it  to-night  is  the  fact  that  we  shall  probably  make 
Juan  Fernandez  to-morrow." 

"  Yet  this  island  is  not  mentioned  in  the  story,  I 
believe,"  said  I. 

»39 


I4O  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 


"  No  ,•  tWe  sceiifc  of  the  romance  lies  on  the  Atlantic 
side,  somewncre  near  the  mouth  of  the  Orinoco  ;  but 
it  is  prooable  that  De  Foe  got  the  idea  from  the 
story  or  a  Scotchman  who  lived  three  years  on  this 
island.'* 

"  O  yes/'  said  I,  "  I  remember  the  soliloquy  of  this 
Selkirk  that  I  used  to  read  and  declaim  at  the  coun 
try  school, 

"  '  I  am  Monarch  of  all  I  survey.' 

Then  I  suppose  this  Selkirk  story  is  really  true,  is  it  ?  " 

"  Yes,  there  is  no  good  reason  to  doubt  it.  He  was 
taken  off  the  island  by  the  English  circumnavigator, 
Rogers,  in  1709,  if  I  remembur  right." 

"Is  there  any  one  living  on  it  now  ?  "  I  asked. 

"  I  don't  know.  There  was  no  one  there  the  last 
visit  I  made  to  it.  But  I  have  heard  since  that  the 
Chilian  government  made  use  uf  it  as  a  penal  settle 
ment,  or  something  of  the  kind.  But  we  shall  not 
probably  land  there.  What  we  want  is  a  good  haul 
of  fresh  fish,  and  this  is  just  the  place  to  find  it. 
We  must  muster  all  the  fishing-lines  in  the  ship  ;  the 
old  man  has  got  plenty  of  hooks  ;  and,  by  the  way, 
I  want  you  in  the  morning  to  get  an  iron  hoop  from 
the  cooper  and  net  it  across  witn  ropeyarn  ('  Cooper  ' 
will  know  just  what  I  want),  10  catch  some  craw 
fish." 

"  What  sort  of  fish  are  they?"  asked  I. 

"  Why,  they  are  a  species  of  the  lobster  family, 
and  fully  equal  to  any  of  our  lobsters  in  flavor." 

"  Juan  Fernandez,"  resumed  the  mate,  "  is  a  name 
that  more  correctly  belongs  to  both  islands,  some 


FISHING    AT  JUAN    FERNANDEZ,    ETC.  IAI 

seventy  or  eighty  miles  apart.     The  Spaniards  caiied 
them  Mas  a  ticrra  and  Mas  afuera,  from   their  rela 
tive  positions,  '  more  in-shore,'   and  '  more  off-shore. 
The  westernmost  is  still  known  by  its  name  of  Mass 
fuera,  but  this  one  seems  to  have  taken  '  Juan  Fernan 
dez '  as  its  distinctive  title." 

We  stood  in  near  this  beautiful  island,  which  is  in 
vested  with  a  sort  of  romantic  interest  from  the  cip 
cumstances  to  which  the  mate  alluded  ;  and  certainly, 
I  thought,  if  a  man  must  load  a  solitary  life  for  a 
series  of  years,  this  would  not  be  the  last  place  he 
would  select  for  his  hermitage.  The  larboard  and 
waist-boats  were  equipped  and  lowered  for  the  fishing 
excursion,  and  we  shoved  off  in  high  feather.  We 
were  provided  with  convenient  anchors  which  we  drop 
ped  within  a  short  distance  of  the  rocks,  where  the 
water  was  alive  with  fish  of  various  kinds,  which  could 
be  plainly  seen  darting  and  winding  below  us.  The 
lines  were  hardly  down  among  them  when  some  one 
hauled  a  fish  into  the  boat ;  some  one  else  followed 
with  another  ;  and  the  sport  was  fairly  begun.  Pieces 
of  pork  furnished  bait  to  start  with;  then  the  fish 
supplied  tempting  morsels  of  their  own  flesh  for  the 
hook,  to  allure  their  cannibalic  brethren  to  share 
their  captivity.  O  ye  amateur  anglers  who  sit  with 
a  rod  and  fly,  tempting  little  innocent  fish  to  nibble 
and  thinking  it  not  bad  sport  if  you  get  two  or  three 
nibbles  an  hour,  come  to  Juan  Fernandez  and  find 
good,  hearty,  muscular  sport,  that  you  will  not  fall 
asleep  at. 

"  Halloo  !  "   shouted  Obed  B.,  a3  he  recoiled  from 


142  THE    LOG   OF    THE   ARETHUSA. 

the  haul  he  had  made,  staring  with  disgust,  "  what 
the  deuce  have  I  got  on  my  hook  now  ? " 

"  Conger  eel  ! "  said  the  mate,  with  a  roar  of  laugh- 
ter.  "  That's  not  the  kind  you  used  to  spear  in  Nan- 
tucket  docks,  or  stay  all  night  for  at  Maddaket  ditch 
Let's  see  you  get  clear  of  him,  now  you've  caught 
him,"  for  the  eel  had  wriggled  and  twisted  himself 
into  a  hopeless  snarl  with  the  line,  after  swallowing 
the  hook  firmly  ;  and  defied  all  his  attempts  to  re 
lease  him,  for,  as  Hoeg  expressed  it,  he  "  wouldn't 
be  handled." 

Manoel,  the  Portuguese,  being  better  acquainted 
with  eels  of  that  sort,  soon  got  him  clear.  He  said 
they  were  good  eating  ;  but  Hoeg  slung  him  over 
board  again  with,  "  Who  in  thunder  do  you  suppose 
wants  to  eat  that  flat-headed  snake  ?  " 

And  now  every  one  began  to  haul  more  or  less  of 
these  eels,  which  created  much  merriment  and  bois 
terous  laughter,  while  it  consumed  much  time  in 
clearing  lines  and  getting  rid  of  them. 

The  first  haul  of  my  impromptu  net  brought  up  one 
crustaeous  monster  of  the  kind  I  wanted,  among  a 
snarl  of  eels  who  had  writhed  and  squirmed  into  nad 
through  the  meshes  of  the  net,  with  their  teeth  fast 
ened  among  the  ropeyarns,  and  clinging  with  a  perti 
nacity  and  muscular  power  of  jaw,  which  plainly  said, 
"  nought  but  death  shall  part  us. "  Over  it  went 
again,  eels  and  all  ;  and  I  caught  several  more  craw 
fish,  great,  ugly-looking  fellows,  who  added  greatly  to 
the  confusion  under  our  feet  by  flinging  their  claws 
and  feelers  about  among  the  fish  at  the  bottom  of 
the  boat. 


FISHING    AT  JUAN    FERNANDEZ,    ETC.  143 

A  loud  hail  from  Mr.  Dunham,  whose  boat  was 
anchored  at  some  distance  from  us,  suddenly  inter 
rupted  the  sport  upon  which  we  had  been  so  intent  ; 
and  looking  up  with  one  accord,  we  saw  that  his  crew 
were  hauling  in  their  lines  for  a  start,  while  he  him 
self  was  gesticulating  with  his  arm  extended  in  the 
direction  of  the  ship.  The  ensign  was  flying  at  the 
gaff  ;  a  signal  of  recall. 

"  He  sees  whales  !"  said  Mr.  Graf  ton.  "  In  lines, 
boys  !  Make  them  up  at  once.  Haul  in  your  net, 
Blacksmith,  or  cut  it  adrift,  and  set  the  sail,  as  soon 
as  you  can  get  the  anchor  aweigh  ! "  The  orders 
were  obeyed  with  all  speed,  and  the  two. boats  were 
soon  nearing  the  ship  as  fast  as  the  sails  and  oars 
would  carry  us.  The  small  flag  was  already  up  at 
the  main  ;  and  the  extended  "  pointer  "  (a  light  pole 
with  a  black  ball  on  the  end  of  it,  to  be  used  at  the 
masthead,  when  the  boats  are  down)  told  us  that  the 
whale  was  off  the  ship's  lee  bow. 

"  There  he  hauls  aback !  "  said  Father  Grafton,  "  and 
I  declare,  there  goes'  the  starboard  boat  down.  The 
whale  must  be  in  range  of  the  ship  from  us,  and  pretty 
near  the  ship  too,  for  the  old  man  can't  wait  for  us, 
and  is  going  to  try  him  alone — Look  !  Here's  another 
ship  hove  in  sight  round  that  point,  and  coming  un 
der  all  sail.  Spring  hard  men,  and  get  alongside  ! 
If  we  only  had  our  line  tub  in,  I  wouldn't  go  to  the 
ship  at  all,  I'd  take  the  fish  with  me,  or  else  throw 
them  overboard." 

The  second  mate  was  but  little  ahead  of  us  in  get 
ting  alongside  the  ship,  and  we  both  strove  to  outdo 


144  THE    LOG    OF    TnE    ARETHUSA. 

each  other  in  getting  the  lumber  out  of  the  boat  and 
the  lines  in.  Fish  flew  in  on  deck  with  the  fury  of  a 
bombardment  ;  fishing-lines  and  boat  anchors  were 
bundled  in  among  them  ;  we  sung  out  for  our  line  at 
the  same  moment  Mr.  Dunham  was  shouting  for  his, 
and  the  cooper  in  the  maintopgallant-crosstrees  ex 
cited  us  to  still  greater  exertions,  by  the  cry  "  The 
old  man's  most  on  !  If  he  spouts  twice  more,  he'll 
have  him  ! " 

"  Bear  a  hand  with  that  tub  !  "  said  Father  Grafton. 
"  Be  careful  to  keep  it  upright,  and  don't  break  the 
coil  !  So  ;  lower  handsomely  now !  Let  go  !  Shove 
off,  and  get  your  oars  out  as  fast  as  you  can  !  " 

As  we  swung  out  by  the  stern  of  the  ship,  the 
cooper  roared  again  : 

"  There's  white  wate-e-er  !     The  old  man  s  fast  !  " 

"  Bend  on  your  craft,  Blacksmith,  as  fast  as  you 
can,"  said  the  mate,  "  and  be  sure  you  have  every 
thing  clear.  Pull  ahead,  the  rest  of  you." 

The  two  boats  were  pretty  equally  matched  for  a 
pull  ;  for,  though  ours  was  a  little  the  fastest  when 
under  sail,  Mr.  Dunham's  crew  were  rather  heavier 
than  ours,  and  the  excess  of  muscular  power  coun 
terbalanced  the  slight  difference  in  the  models  o'f  the 
two  boats.  We  diverged  a  little  so  as  to  give  each 
other  full  swing,  and  then  "  hooked  down  "  to  our 
work  ;  for  the  whale  was  spinning  off  to  leeward  at  a 
smart  pace,  and  a  stern  chase  is  proverbially  a  long 
one. 

"  He  stays  up  well,"  said  the  mate,  who  kept  his 
clear  eye  fixed  upon  the  fast  whale  ;  "  he  hasn't 


FISHING    AT   JUAN    FERNANDEZ,    ETC.  145 

sounded  yet,  but  he  runs  so  that  the  old  man  can't 
haul  up  to  him.  There  he  '  mills  ! '  he's  headed  along 
on  a  wind  now,"  said  he,  rapidly  altering  the  boat's 
course  with  the  steering  oar,  so  as  to  forereach  on 
him.  "  Stretch  hard  men  !  he's  milling  more  yet  ! 
coming  to  windward  !  right  at  us  now  !  All  right, 
we'll  take  him  '  head  and  head  ! ' ' 

The  two  boats  now  converged  again,  both  aiming 
for  the  same  point  of  attack,  and  steering  for  the 
nib-end  of  the  whale.  The  general  reader  may  be 
surprised  at  this  mode  of  approaching  him,  unless 
informed  that  the  sperm  whale  cannot  see  directly 
ahead  of  him,  but  if  a  boat  pulls  for  his  broadside, 
he  is  much  more  liable  to  take  the  alarm. 

"  Stand  up,  Blacksmith,  and  get  your  craft  ready," 
said  the  mate,  quietly.  "  See  that  every  thing  is  clear. 
Be  sure  and  keep  cool,  and  don't  dart  too  soon.  Ease 
pulling,  all !  He's  coming  quick  enough  ;  there's  no 
need  to  pull,  but  stand  by  your  oars,  all  ready  at  the 
word." 

He  was  indeed  coming,  with  a  vengeance  !  As  I 
stood  up,  he  was  just  in  the  act  of  rounding  his  im 
mense  back  above  the  water,  after  blowing,  and  the 
white  water  was  flying  from  his  sides  in  clouds,  as  he 
forced  himself  to  windward.  The  muscular  power  of 
an  animal  like  this  is  fearful  to  think  of  ;  and  I  must 
confess  to  anxious  feelings,  nay,  to  a  feeling  of  dread, 
even,  at  the  novel  position  in  which  I  had  been  so  sud 
denly  placed.  I  remembered  Father  Graf  ton's  injunc 
tion  to  keep  cool,  and  then  thought  of  the  old  man's 
expressive  and  characteristic  words,  "Get  a  good  scote, 

10 


146  THE   LOG   OF   THE    ARETHUSA. 

and  grit  the  ends  of  your  front  teeth  off.  "  I  had  not 
time  to  think  of  much  more,  for  as  his  spout-hole  made 
its  next  appearance  above  the  surface,  I  saw  that  he 
had  lessened  the  distance  between  us  fully  one  half. 
He  blew  off  his  spout,  clear  and  strong,  and  as  his 
back  rose  again,  I  saw  that  the  captain's  boat  was  but 
slightly  fast  by  one  iron.  He  had  his  second  iron  in 
the  crotch,  having  hauled  it  in,  but  had  not  yet  been 
able  to  haul  near  to  the  whale,  so  as  to  use  it. 

"  Look  out  next  time."  said  Mr.  Grafton  in  a  low, 
anxious  tone.  "  Don't  be  in  a  hurry  to  dart  till  you 
are  past  his  head." 

I  glanced  round  ;  the  other  boat  was  waiting  the 
crisis  like  ourselves,  on  the  other  side,  just  giving 
room  for  the  whale  to  pass  handsomely  between  us. 
Fisher  stood  balancing  his  first  iron,  all  eagerness  for 
the  fray. 

A  roar  saluted  my  ears,  and  a  cloud  of  spray  was 
blown  into  the  air  like  very  fine  rain,  so  near  as  to 
envelop  me  in  its  cool  shower.  I  grasped  my  iron  ; 
all  feelings  of  fear  or  dread  had  vanished.  Not  so  the 
feeling  of  anxiety,  but  it  was  only  anxiety  lest  the 
prey  might  yet  escape  me. 

"  Steady,  my  boy  !  "  said  the  mate  again,  "  Hold 
your  hand  ! " 

His  massive  head  drew  swiftly  towards  me  ;  the  boat 
rocked  in  the  swell  forced  off  from  his  glossy  side : 
and  his  broad  back  lay  temptingly  before  me.  It  was 
a  sure  thing. 

"  Now  Blacksmith ! "  said  the  mate,  throwing  the 
boat's  head  off  as  he  spoke. 


FISHING   AT  JUAN   FERNANDEZ,    ETC. 

I  needed  no  second  bidding ;  my  first  iron  went  in 
to  the  socket,  and  the  second  followed  it,  though  not 
quite  so  deeply. 

"Good!  "said  Father  Graf  ton.  "  Heave  your  box- 
line  overboard!  " 

With  his  shout  was  mingled  a  cry  of  "  Stern  !  Stern 
hard ! "  from  the  other  boat  ;  I  saw  Fisher's  iron 
cleave  its  way  through  the  shining  blackskin  opposite 
my  own,  there  was  a  convulsive  heaving  and  rocking 
of  everything  about  us,  then  a  loud  crash  and  splinter 
ing  sound.  The  waist-boat's  crew  were  all  swimming 
amid  the  chaotic  wreck  of  their  frail  craft.  Her 
broadside  was  crushed  inclear  fore  and  aft.  The 
whale  had  thrown  himself  over  towards  her,  and  we 
had  escaped  without  injury. 

The  monster  had  disappeared  instantly,  but  was 
evidently  not  far  beneath  us,  as  all  the  lines  hung 
slack.  The  second  mate  had,  of  course,  cut  his,  as 
soon  as  he  could  get  at  it.  We  sterned  off  out  of  the 
slick  where  the  whale  had  gone  down,  and  lay  just  at 
the  outer  rim  of  the  bloody  water. 

"  You  are  well  fast,  Mr.  Grafton,  with  both  irons ; 
you  hold  on  !  "  said  the  old  man.  "  I'll  cut  off  and 
pick  up  the  crew.  Never  mind,  we'll  divide  'em. 
Take  three  men  into  your  boat,  and  we'll  both  hold  on. 
Never  mind  the  stoven  boat ;  we  can't  bother  about 
her  now." 

The  dripping  crew  were  all  rescued  ;  for,  by  a  good 
fortune  which  seems  almost  miraculous  in  hundreds 
of  similar  cases,  no  one  was  hurt ;  and  we  now  pre 
pared  for  a  fresh  attack  with  nine  men  in  each  boat ; 


148  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

though  reinforcements  of  this  kind  were  not  at  all 
desirable  as  the  boats  were  overloaded,  and  every  one 
was  in  every  one  else's  way.  But  the  ship  had  run 
down,  and  was  close  by  us,  in  case  of  further  accident ; 
we  had  yet  three  hours  to  sundown,  and  the  strange 
ship  was  also  near,  watching  our  movements,  and  had 
hoisted  her  private  or  owner's  signal,  by  which  we 
knew  her  to  be  the  Fortitude;  which  lay  at  the  "  Bar" 
when  we  sailed  and  had  shortly  followed  us. 

" Where  is  the  whale?"  said  the  old  man.  "Our 
line  is  all  slack."  Then  suddenly  he  roared,  ."  Look 
out !  Stern  all  !  stern,  out  of  the  way  !  " 

The  ponderous  head  of  the  whale  was  standing 
erect  above  the  water  like  a  milestone  ;  it  swayed  for 
a  moment,  and  then  seeming  to  fall  over  backwards, 
the  lower  jaw,  with  its  ugly  display  of  ivory,  was  thrust 
up,  nearly  at  right  angles  with  the  upper. 

"  Stern  !  Stern  hard,  and  give  him  room  !  He'll 
bear  watching,  Mr.  Grafton.  We  shall  have  to  look 
out  for  slants.  I  would  like  to  get  my  second  iron 
in,  but  I'm  afraid  he  wont  give  me  a  chance  soon." 

But  he  did,  however;  for  after  impotently  gnash 
ing  his  jaw  two  or  three  times,  he  rolled  over  and 
straightened  out,  spouting,  apparently,  as  strong  as 
ever.  It  was  plain  that  he  had  plenty  of  fight  in 
him  yet,  and  was  fairly  brought  to  bay.  He  did  not 
intend  to  run  any  more. 

The  starboard  boat  pulled  up  carefully  within  dart, 
and  as  she  did  so,  leviathan  rolled  up  sidewise  to  meet 
her.  Captain  Upton  was  not  to  be  daunted,  however, 
but  crying  "  Stern  all ! "  he  pitched  his  second  iron  in 


FISHING    AT  JUAN    FERNANDEZ,    ETC.  149 

near  the  fin,  and  as  the  whale  continued  rolling,  follow 
ed  it  up  with  his  lance  in  the  breast,  between  the  fins. 
Quick  as  lightning,  down  settled  the  monstrous  body, 
and  the  whale  again  stood  on  end  with  his  jaw  out. 
He  flung  the  jaw  over  with  a  desperate  sweep,  which 
would  have  dealt  destruction  to  the  boat  and  all  hands 
had  the  range  been  a  little  shorter.  The  starboard 
boat  fell  back  to  her  former  position  with  the  loss  of 
her  midship  oar  and  the  gunwale  split,  but  that  was 
a  trifle.  The  whale  had  received  two  more  severe 
wounds,  at  any  rate ;  and  it  was  our  turn  to  take  the 
next  round  with  him,  when  he  should  straighten  again, 
which  he  immediately  did,  still  spouting  clear,  though 
not  so  strong  as  before. 

In  the  language  of  the  ring,  Mr.  Grafton  "  was  on 
hand  at  the  call  of  time  ; "  but  the  whale  "  played  the 
drop  game  on  us,"  and  with  partial  success*  He 
went  down  like  a  stone  ;  sinking  so  quickly  that  he 
received  the  mate's  lance  much  higher  in  the  body 
than  was  hoped  or  intended. 

"  He's  an  ugly  customer,  Mr.  Grafton,"  said  the 
captain  as  we  sheered  off  again.  "  Keep  your  eyes 
peeled !  there's  no  telling  where  he'll  come  next." 

But  I  soon  had  reason  to  know  where  he  was.  There 
was  a  light  rippling  under  the  stern  of  our  boat,  then 
a  rise  of  the  sea,  lifting  her  a  little  ;  and  that  fatal 
lower  jaw  stood  like  a  small  tower  on  one  side  of  the 
boat,  with  its  double  tier  of  ivory  cones  towards  me, 
while  the  tremendous  head,  full  of  scars,  overshadowed 
me  on  the  other.  I  did  not  stop  to  investigate  their 
beauties  ;  but,  while  the  tub  and  stroke  oarsmen  van- 


I5O  THE    LOG   OF    THE    AKETHUSA. 

ished  over  the  gunwales,  one  each  side,  I  vaulted  a 
sort  of  back  somersault  over  the  steering  strap,  just 
as  the  monster  "  shut  pan "  upon  her,  crushing  her 
stern  up  like  an  egg-shell.  This  "  steel-trap  "  man 
oeuvre  had  proved  a  perfect  success,  and  nine  men 
were  swimming  for  their  lives  while  the  captain's 
boat  was  already  overloaded  with  the  other  nine ! 

But  reinforcements  were  not  far  off.  As  I  looked 
about  me  when  I  rose,  the  captain's  waif  was  set  for 
help,  and  the  Fortitude's  three  boats  were  already 
splashing  into  the  water.  The  old  man  had  cut  adrift 
from  the  whale,  and  had  already  thirteen  men  in  his 
boat  formed  in  close  column,  the  other  five  clinging 
to  the  wreck  of  the  larboard  boat,  when  the  three 
boats  of  our  consort,  all  abreast,  got  within  hail. 

"Pick  up,  my  men,  Wyer,  and  let  some  of  your 
boats  strike  the  whale ! "  said  the  old  man.  "  You 
shall  have  half  of  him,  and  welcome,  if  we  can  man 
age  to  muckle  him  out  before  night.  But  work  shy 
with  him,  or  you  will  lose  some  of  your  boats,  too." 

"  All  right !  "  answered  Captain  Wyer.  "  Come, 
Graf  ton,  light  into  my  boat  here.  Jump  in,  my  boys,  all 
of  you.  Look  out  for  the  whale,  Mr.  Swain,"  to  his 
own  mate,  "  and  if  you  get  a  chance,  pitch  in.  Be  a 
little  careful,  though,  and  you  too,  Mr.  Russell,  don't 
go  harem-scarem  !  Where  is  the  whale,  Upton?" 

"Somewhere  under  us,"  returned  the  old  man,  as 
coolly  as  if  he  had  said  he  was  two  miles  off.  "  There 
he  is  !  "  he  continued,  as  the  whale  broke  water  within 
a  ship's  length  of  the  Fortitude's  waist-boat,  and  Rus- 


FISHING    AT  JUAN    FERNANDEZ,    ETC.  151 

sell's  boatsteerer  jumped  up  and  down  in  the  excite 
ment  of  the  moment. 

A  few  strokes  sent  the  boat  alongside  of  him,  going 
on  "  quartering, "  but  both  Russell  and  his  boatsteerer 
were  a  little  too  eager,  or  "  harem-scarem  "  as  his  cap 
tain  termed  it.  A  blow  from  the  monster's  immense 
"  fan "  swept  the  two  oars  from  the  port  side  of  his 
boat,  ripping  out  the  peak-cleets  and  splitting  his  gun 
wale,  while  his  bowman  was  considerably  hurt  by  one 
of  the  oars  striking  him  in  the  head.  His  boat  was 
still  tight,  however,  and  the  injured  man  was  trans 
ferred  to  Captain  Wyer's  boat,  and  I  took  his  place  to 
"  bow  on  "  if  a  chance  offered. 

"  Never  mind,  Mr.  Russell,  try  him  again  ! "  said 
our  captain.  "  Here's  spare  oars,  if  you  want,  pick 
'em  up,  all  round  here.  Hold  on  a  bit,  though ;  let 
Swain  have  a  try,  he's  got  the  chance  now." 

The  mate  of  the  Fortitude  was  one  of  those  long- 
limbed,  powerful  men,  who  seemed  to  have  been  built 
expressly  to  "  straighten  ten  fathom  of  lance-wrap 
and  do  execution."  He  was  wary  too,  in  his  approach, 
and  waited  for  what  he  thought  was  a  "  good  time  in." 
He  hurled  his  iron  when  four  fathoms  distant,  and 
put  it  well  in,  calling,  "  Stern,  stern  hard  ! "  As  he 
drew  back  his  lance  for  a  long  dart,  it  seemed  to  me 
impossible  that  he  could  reach  him,  as  he  poised  it  in 
his  hands,  still  backing  with  his  oars.  When  he 
judged  himself  at  a  safe  distance,  it  sped  for  its  mark 
with  a  momentum  that  was  positively  fearful.  He 
drew  it  back ;  a  quiver  was  perceptible  in  the  sides  of 
the  vast  body  of  the  monster  who  had  fought  so  vali- 


152  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

antly  for  his  life ;  and  thirty-six  voices  greeted  the 
thick  clots  of  blood  now  faintly  gushing  from  his 
spout-hole,  with  glad  shouts  of  victory. 

"  He's  throwing  up  the  sponge,"  said  Mr.  Swain, 
quietly.  "  A  child  can  take  care  of  him  now." 

We  picked  up  and  secured  the  wrecks  of  our  boats 
and  gear,  while  the  whale  was  hauled  alongside  the 
Fortitude.  It  was  agreed  that  Captain  VVyer  should 
cut  and  boil  him,  and  we  would  divide  the  oil  in  Tal- 
cahuana,  as  we  both  expected  to  be  there  soon.  We 
bought  a  boat  of  the  Fortitude,  rigged  the  spare  one 
overhead,  and  thus  were  enabled  to  lower  the  comple 
ment  of  three.  We  stretched  across  to  Massafuera 
and  back,  cruising  between  the  two  islands,  till  one 
more  large  whale  rewarded  our  efforts  ;  and  bore  away 
for  the  rendezvous,  our  consort  having  left  the  ground 
the  day  before.  The  cooper  had  added  one  to  his 
stock  of  yarns  which  would  require  but  little  embel 
lishment  to  make  it  marvellous.  Mr.  Grafton  and 
Fisher  were  converts  to  the  "  eating  whale  "  theory  ; 
and  "  the  doctor  "  listened  with  delight  as  we  rehearsed 
the  incidents  of  the  capture  of  "  the  Juan  Fernandez 
whale  ;"  displaying,  as  he  listened,  an  array  of  ivory 
almost  as  formidable  as  that  of  the  redoubtable  whale 
himself. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

TALCAHUANA. 

WE  passed  the  Fortitude,  tack  and  tack,  beating  up 
to  the  anchorage  of  Talcahuana,  and  let  go  our  anchors 
nearly  at  the  same,  moment.  Fifty-five  barrels  was 
our  share  of  "the  Juan  Fernandez  whale,"  which 
made  us  up  to  two  hundred  and  thirty,  all  told  ;  not 
so  bad  a  start,  as  we  were  hardly  five  months  from 
home. 

Talcahuana,  or  "  Turkeywarner,"  as  old  Jeff  and 
the  cook  persisted  in  Anglicizing  the  name,  is  like 
many  other  places  on  the  Spanish  Main,  merely  the 
port  to  a  large  city ;  the  cities  along  this  coast  being 
pushed  up  into  mountains,  at  a  considerable  distance 
from  the  seaboard.  The  place  itself  is  not  much  to 
look  at,  or  to  discourse  about.  A  description  would 
present  no  points  of  marked  interest  to  the  general 
reader,  and  what  whalemen  needs  a  description  of 
Talcahuana? 

Here  were  anchored  some  dozen  or  fifteen  whale- 
ships,  mostly  from  Nantucket  and  New  Bedford  ; 
some  lately  from  home  bringing  letters  for  those  long 
absent,  while  two  or  three  were  making  their  last  port 
homeward-bound,  and  ready  to  take  the  answering 

'53 


154  THE    LOG   OF    THE   ARETHUSA. 

epistles  ;  for  at  that  time  the  process  of  annihilation 
of  time  and  space  which  has  made  such  strides  within 
the  last  quarter  of  a  century,  was,  comparatively  speak 
ing,  in  its  infancy.  Yankee  enterprise  had  not  yet 
pushed  its  way  over  the  Sierras,  and  the  ponchoed 
Mexican  still  lounged  at  his  ease,  and  drawled  his 
quien  sabe  f  where  now  great  commercial  cities  have 
started  up  as  if  by  magic.  No  ocean  steamers  then 
vexed  the  waters  of  "  the  Gulf  "  and  the  Caribbean  ; 
overland  mails  were  rather  a  "  proposed  "  innovation 
than  a  fixed  fact,  and  the  electric  telegraph  was  as  yet 
hidden  in  the  womb  of  time.  To  us  in  the  Pacific, 
news  from  home  even  a  year  old  was  heartily  wel 
comed  ;  while  the  advent  of  a  whaler  five  or  six 
months  out  was  a  perfect  windfall. 

Good  fellowship  and  jollity  presided  at  the  reunions 
or  "  gams  "  on  board  the  various  whalers  at  anchor  ; 
music  and  dancing -held  high  carnival  every  evening; 
old  friendships  were  renewed  and  new  ones  formed ; 
unexpected  recognitions  were  of  frequent  occurrence  ; 
and  even  members  of  the  same  family,  separated  for 
a  long  series  of  years,  were  here  reunited,  though  but 
temporarily.  A  striking  instance  of  this  sort  occur 
red  two  or  three  days  after  our  arrival.  A  bark  was 
beating  in  for  anchorage,  and  Mr.  Swain  was  seen  to 
shove  off  his  boat  from  the  Fortitude,  and  pull  out  to 
wards  her.  She  had  a  private  signal  flying,  and  Father 
Grafton,  after  consulting  a  list  which  he  kept  tacked 
on  the  inside  of  his  chest-lid,  told  me  she  was  the  Clio, 
of  New  Bedford,  and  added,  indifferently,  "  Swain's 
brother  is  mate  of  her."  The  brothers  were  both  on 


TALCAHUANA.  155 

board  the  Arethusa  in  the  evening,  and  I  heard  the 
question  casually  asked,  "  how  long  it  was  since  they 
saw  each  other  last  ?  "  "  Let  me  see,"  said  Swain  of 
the  Clio.  "  I  sailed  on  my  first  voyage  to  the  Brazil 
Banks  in  1820,  and  Joe  had  been  gone  about  a  year 
then  in  the  Good  Success.  It's  a  little  over  twenty- 
three  years." 

"  It  was  quite  time  to  shake  hands,  then, "  said  our 
mate.  I  stared  in  amazement  at  the  coolness  with 
which  they  treated  the  matter  !  Here  were  two  bro 
thers,  both  pursuing  the  same  business  for  a  livelihood, 
and  both  residing,  with  their  families,  in  the  same 
town,  who  had  not  seen  each  other's  faces  since  they 
were  schoolboys.  And  among  this  knot  of  Nantucket 
officers  present,  the  fact  was  not  looked  upon  as  being 
very  remarkable,  and  was  dismissed  with  merely  a 
passing  word  of  comment.  I  was  speaking  of  this 
matter  aside  to  the  young  third  mate,  Mr.  Bunker, 
"Why,"  said  he,  "we  islanders  don't  think  much  of 
that.  It's  matter  of  course  in  our  business.  Young 
as  I  am,  it  is  eight  years  since  I  saw  my  eldest  brother 
who  is  now  second  mate  of  a  ship  cruising  '  on  New 
Zealand,'  and  I  am  not  likely  to  get  a  sight  at  him  for 
many  years  to  come,  unless  one  of  us  makes  an  un 
usually  long  or  short  voyage  so  as  to  bring  us  both  at 
home  at  the  same  time.  It  is  not  that  we  are  want 
ing  in  natural  affection  that  we  treat  the  matter  so 
coolly.  I  think  I  love  my  brother,  and  I  suppose  if 
we  should  accidentally  meet,  we  should  do  just  as  the 
Swain  brothers  do  :  give  each  other  a  hearty  greeting, 
make  the  most  of  each  other's  company  while  it  lasted, 


156  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

and  part  again  in  a  day,  perhaps  in  an  hour,  for  an 
other  series  of  years,  and  that  is  all  about  it." 

We  have  taken  in  our  water  and  recruits  ;  received 
on  board  the  oil  from  the  Fortitude  and  stowed  it  down  ; 
the  heavy  work  is  all  finished,  and  not  much  remains 
to  be  done  but  to  paint  the  ship  ;  and  now  the  "  liberty  " 
begins.  The  word  is  passed  for  the  watch  to  get  ready 
to  go  ashore.  Now  the  "  finery  "  is  roused  out  from 
the  depths  of  sea-chests,  that  is,  if  we  have  any ;  and, 
if  we  have  only  one  article  of  "  longshore  toggery,"  it 
must  be  worn,  though  perhaps  not  strictly  in  keeping 
with  other  parts  of  our  attire,  which  gives  us  a  slight 
touch  of  the  amphibious  appearance  of  which  I  have 
before  spoken  at  Nantucket.  Farrell  is  with  us,  having 
"  swapped  "  into  the  larboard  watch  for  the  occasion, 
and  sports  a  neat  pair  of  velveteens  of  the  peculiar 
color  and  cut  that  no  man  who  speaks  without  the 
brogue,  ever  did,  or  by  any  possibility  could  wear. 
Where  he  got  them  is  a  mystery,  for  no  one  of  his 
shipmates  ever  saw  them  before.  The  two  boys, 
Kelly  and  Hoeg,  are  resplendent  in  round  jackets  of 
green  flannel,  at  that  time  an  indispensable  part  of  the 
outfit  of  every  "  native  "  below  the  rank  of  chief  mate  ; 
but  which  have  fallen  into  disuse,  and  passed  away  to 
oblivion  with  the  stiff  tarpaulin  hat,  it  is  to  be  hoped 
never  to  return. 

"  Come  aft,  and  get  your  money." 

The  old  man  has  a  pile  of  Spanish  dollars  on  the 
cabin-table,  and  serves  them  out  with  one  hand,  while 
he  makes  entries  in  his  memorandum-book  with  the 
other  ;  the  watch  pass  in  and  out  again,  one  at  a  time, 


TALCAHUANA.  1 57 

like  voters  at  the  polls,  each  getting  his  two  dollars, 
and  a  rough  word  of  advice  to  "  behave  himself,  and 
not  break  his  liberty,  nor  bring  any  money  off  with 
him."  We  take  our  places  in  the  boat,  but  not  at  the 
oar ;  for  we  are  but  passengers  to  be  ferried  ashore  by 
the  other  watch. 

Jack's  liberty  is  perfect  while  it  lasts,  that  is,  so  far 
as  the  ship's  duty  is  concerned.  Twenty-four  hours 
is  our  limit,  and  the  boat  will  be  sent  in  next  morning 
to  bring  us  off,  unless  we  prefer  to  hire  other  convey 
ance,  which  we  can  do  if  we  choose — and  have  money 
enough  left.  Other  boats  with  "liberty  men  "  are  to 
be  seen  leaving  various  ships,  among  the  rest  the  For 
titude's,  in  which  are  s-everal  of  my  former  comrades 
in  the  gallant  Lydia  Ann.  We  pull  into  the  rude 
wharf  or  mole,  and  all  jump  on  terra  jfinnawiih  a 
feeling  of  outgtishing  freedom,  a  Fourth-of-July  feel 
ing,  uncontrollable,  boiling  over.  We  invite  our  un 
fortunate  shipmates,  the  ferrymen,  to  "  come  up  and 
take  a  drink,"  and  do  so  with  an  air,  too.  They  accept, 
asking  the  officer's  permission,  poor  fellows !  It  mat 
ters  not  that  we  shall  have  to  do  the  same  thing  to 
morrow,  "  sufficient  unto  the  day  "  is  our  motto  now; 
and  each  man  carries  a  Declaration  of  Independence 
to  his  pocket,  ay,  two  of  them  jingling. 

It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  if  the  seaman  after  be 
ing  cooped  up  and  subjected  to  strict  discipline  for 
months  at  sea,  thinks  it  hard  that  he  cannot  follow 
his  bent,  and  do  precisely  as  he  pleases  for  twenty-four 
hours  on  shore,  and  revolts  at  the  idea  of  submitting  to 
the  local  authorities  and  conducting  himself  like  a  law- 


158  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

abiding  citizen.  We  all  take  a  drink  together  at  the 
nearest  pnlperia,  officers  and  all,  and  glance  conde 
scendingly  at  our  ferrymen  ignominiously  going  down 
to  the  boat  to  pull  her  back  again. 

"  Well,  where  next  ? "  We  gradually  separate  into 
knots  of  two  or  three,  seeking  adventures.  Some  will 
care  for  little  else  but  to  cast  anchor  in  a  pulperia  and 
soak  themselves  with  liquor  ;  others  will  patronize  a 
ten-pin  alley  or  a  billiard  table  if  they  can  find  one  ; 
while  none  are  insensible  to  the  blandishments  of  the 
graceful  and  seductive  Chilian  women.  Mr.  Bunker 
assumes  the  office  of  Mentor  for  me,  for  he  has  been 
here  "  last  voyage,"  and  knows  some  of  the  ropes.  So 
we  are  not  long  in  finding  good  quarters,  and  enjoy  the 
day  very  pleasantly,  drinking  only  enough  to  keep 
our  wits  sharp  and  make  us  lively  company  for  each 
other.  We  drop  in  at  a  dance  hall  which  is  occupied 
.only  by  a  few  loungers  at  present,  but  the  fellow  be 
hind  the  bar,  who,  it  strikes  me  has  a  very  "  Rule 
Britannia"  look  fora  Spaniard,  tells  us  "there'll  be 
fun  in  the  hevening,"  and  kindly  invites  us  to  partici 
pate.  We  pursue  our  rambles,  occasionally  encounter 
ing  small  parties  of  our  shipmates  among  the  many 
sailors  to  be  found  in  various  stages  of  exhilaration  as 
we  investigate  the  beauties  of  "  Jibboom  Street,"  and 
pry  a  little  into  the  mysteries  of  the  classic  precincts 
of  the  "  Devil's  Pocket." 

But  here's  a  row  !  Let  us  see  what  it  is  !  Sailors 
and  idlers  gather  from  all  quarters  with  surprising 
quickness,  for  there  is  perhaps  nothing  which  exerts  a 
greater  centripetal  force  than  a  street  row  or  brawl. 


TALCAHUANA.  159 

It  seems  bad  blood  had  been  engendered  between  two 
of  the  Fortitude's  boys  on  the  outward  voyage,  and 
they  have  decided  to  knock  a  little  of  it  out,  while  the 
liquor  is  in.  Two  or  three  harmless  cracks  are  inter 
changed,  and  a  "  hook  "  ensues,  when  a  vigilante  un 
happily  appears  on  the  field  and  insists  upon  making 
himself  a  third  party  in  the  business,  contrary  to  all 
seaman-like  laws  of  fair  play  ;  their  shipmates  say 
they  shall  finish  their  set-to  if  they  like;  another 
vigilante  appears  to  assist  his  colleague,  and  each 
seizing  a  belligerent,  they  start  them  in  the  direction 
of  the  calaboose  ;  large  reinforcements  of  sailors  gather 
to  the  rescue,  and  the  police  also  rally  in  the  same 
direction  with  their  espadas  drawn  ;'  one  of  the  pugna 
cious  youths  is  by  this  time  in  the  melting  mood,  and 
goes  like  a  lamb  to  the  slaughter ;  but  the  other  prov 
ing  refractory,  receives  a  persuader  or  two  with  the  flat 
of  the  "  cheese-knife,"  a  very  Spanish  substitute  for  a 
policeman's  baton.  This  is  the  feather  that  breaks 
the  camel's  back;  a  general  attack  is  made  by  the 
infuriated  mariners,  the  policemen  are  knocked  over 
and  the  cheese-knives  taken  from  them  ;  two  or  three 
sailors  are  slightly  cut,  but  no  one  is  seriously  injured. 
Farrell  is  conspicuous  in  the  melee,  flourishing  a 
stout  stick,  with  his  neat  velveteens  very  much  defiled, 
and  his  shirt  showing  through  in  some  "  thin  places." 
The  two  original  combatants  are  released,  and  the 
sailors  have  the  field  to  themselves.  But  fire-arms 
now  make  their  appearance — a  platoon  of  scare-crow 
looking  troops  are  drawn  up  in  line  and  serious  blood 
shed  is  threatened.  But  the  alarm  has  spread;  the 


l6O  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

American  captains  and  officers  make  their  appearance, 
and  the  consul  makes  a  speech  to  the  seamen  who  are 
already  half-frightened  at  their  own  victory  so  cheaply 
won.  The  captains  and  officers  exert  their  influence 
in  particular  quarters  at  the  same  time ;  oil  is  poured 
upon  the  troubled  waters ;  the  captured  weapons  are 
given  up  ;  and  the  two  young  fellows  who  have  found 
themselves  so  unexpectedly  popular  and  notorious  are 
persuaded  to  go  quietly  to  prison  under  guard  for  the 
present.  The  outraged  majesty  of  the  Chilian  Re 
public  is  vindicated,  and  the  wrath  of  the  officials  ap 
peased.  The  pulpcrias  again  do  a  thriving  business, 
much  to  the  relief  of  the  proprietors,  for  the  liquor 
law  has  been  in  force  two  hours,  pending  the  negotia 
tions. 

We  go  back  to  our  comfortable  quarters  and  enjoy  a 
siesta  as  well  as  we  can  for  the  fleas,  whose  name  is 
legion.  We  sally  out  again  towards  night  and  drop 
in  at  the  dance  hall ;  two  violins  are  tuning  up,  and 
the  seamen  gathering  to  a  focus,  while  pretty  women 
pass  in  and  out  with  an  easy  grace,  peculiar,  so  far  as 
my  observation  has  extended,  to  females  with  more  or 
less  admixture  of  Castilian  blood.  Truly  has  Benjie 
Brail  remarked  in  that  fascinating  sea-story,  "  The 
Cruise  of  the  Midge,"  that  though  females  of  other 
nationalities  may  have  various  methods  of  locomotion 
to  be  called  by  various  impertinent  names,  no  woman 
but  a  Spaniard  can  walk.  The  crowd  increases  after 
the  hall  is  lighted,  and  the  fun  grows  fast  and  furious. 
The  bar,  of  course,  does  a  rushing  business  ;  officers 
of  all  grades  drop  in,  and  even  captains  honor  us  with 


TALCAHUANA.  l6l 

their  presence.  Vigilantes  are  near  at  hand  to  pre 
serve  order,  but  every  one  is  in  good-humor  now,  and 
there  is  little  fear  of  any  outbreak.  The  dancers  en 
joy  themselves,  and  the  admiring  lookers-on  drink  and 
applaud.  Mr.  Grafton  is  near  me,  thoughtful  and  ob 
servant  as  usual. 

"  Well,  Blacksmith,  what  do  you  think  of  Chilian 
women  ? " 

"  I  admire  them  very  much,"  said  I,  "  and  yet  I  can 
hardly  tell  why.  Perhaps  because  I  am  partial  to 
brunettes." 

"  Simplicity  of  toilet  has  much  to  do  with  it,"  said 
the  mate.  "  You  see  no  elaborate  fashion  of  '  doing 
up  '  the  hair,  to  torture  and  disfigure  that  which  na 
ture  has  made  so  beautiful.  Then  when  they  go  out, 
you  observe  their  heads  are  either  exposed  or  else 
covered  with  a  shawl  or  mantle  falling  gracefully  over 
the  shoulders.  No  such  abomination  as  a  bonnet  dis 
figures  them.  Then  again,  their  walk  is  the  '  poetry 
of  motion.'  No  Spanish  woman  ever  cultivates  a 
slight  stoop  of  the  shoulders  and  considers  it  graceful, 
but  walks  '  erect  and  free/  and  yet  without  stiffness.  " 

I  could  not  help  smiling  at  the  worthy  mate's  en 
thusiasm  on  the  subject,  and  suggested  that  perhaps 
the  practice  of  carrying  burdens  on  the  head  might 
have  some  effect  in  producing  this  erect  and  easy 
carnage. 

"  Of  course  it  has  much  to  do  with  it, "  said  the 
mate.  "  But,  though  it  would  improve  the  carriage 
and  walk  of  any  woman,  or  man  either,  for  that  mat 
ter,  it  cannot  create  that  grace  of  movement  which  is 

II 


l62  THE  LOG    OF   THE    ARETHUSA. 

essentially  Spanish,  and  which  is  to  be  found  in  ladies 
whose  position  and  wealth  place  them  above  the  ne 
cessity  of  carrying  burdens  at  all,  and,  in  fact,  render 
it  unlikely  that  they  would  do  so.  Again,  the  same 
practice  prevails  to  a  great  extent  all  over  South 
America,  and  in  many  of  the  South  Sea  Islands ;  yet 
who  ever  saw  a  Portuguese  woman  of  Brazil,  or  a 
Kanaka  woman  of  any  island  in  the  Pacific,  whose 
walk  would  compare  with  that  of  a  Chilian  or  Mexi 
can  girl  ?  " 

My  attention  was  again  directed  to  Farrell,  who  was 
"  setting  "  to  a  pretty,  black-eyed  girl  in  the  dance,  his 
step  having  more  of  the  Irish  jig  in  it  than  of  the 
"chengana,"  as  it  called  here,  a  dance  in  which  certain 
coquettish  movements  of  a  handkerchief  in  the  hand 
play  an  important  part.  He  was  armed  with  an  im 
mense  red  cotton  one  which  he  flourished  with  far 
more  vigor  than  grace,  and,  as  the  dance  ended,  he 
obeyed  the  figurative  order  from  the  first  fiddler  to 
"  Square  the  mainyard  and  let  the  jibs  run  down  !  " 
by  leading  his  pretty  partner  up  to  the  bar.  "  I  say, 
darlin',''  said  Farrell,  "  would  ye  tell  me  what's  yer 
sweet  name,  now  ?  " 

"  My  name  ?     Juanita,"  answered  the  girl. 

"  Whon-eater  ?  an'  is  that  yer  name  indade ;  an ' 
sure  your  lingo  is  for  all  the  warld  like  pourin'  music 
out  of  a  jug.  Whon-eater — an'  what  can  be  sweeter  ? 
— I'll  take  her  up  and  treat  her — I  will,  by  the  houly 
St.  Pether  ! "  said  Farrell,  by  way  of  climax  ;  for  he 
was  now  in  his  poetical  stage  of  inebriation — in  which 
he  would  "  rhyme  you  "  like  a  very  Touchstone. 


TALCAHUANA.  '163 

I  turned  away  to  laugh,  and  soon  after  left  the 
dance  hall  with  Mr.  Bunker.  As  I  passed  out  of  the 
door  I  saw  Farrell  repeating  his  dose  at  the  bar,  and 
was  apprehensive  that  he  would  get  into  trouble,  for 
I  knew  that  with  him  the  transition  was  short  and 
easy  from  the  poetical  mood  into  the  pugilistic. 

It  was  even  as  I  feared.  When  the  ship's  boat 
came  in,  the  watch  were  all  on  hand  but  Farrell,  and 
on  inquiry  I  found  he  was  in  "  durance  vile."  It 
seems  a  Chileno  had  taken  the  liberty  to  address  some 
words  to  "  Whon-eater,"  which  Farrell  resented  as  an 
undue  familiarity.  He  hadn't,  of  course,  the  remotest 
idea  what  was  said,  but  he  was  in  the  warlike  stage 
then  and  spoiling  for  a  row.  So  he  struck  out  from 
the  shoulder,  and  was  at  once  seized  and  marched  off 
to  the  lock-up.  He  came  off  about  the  middle  of  the 
forenoon,  having  been  taken  before  the  magistrate 
and  fined  for  assault.  The  old  man  had,  of  course, 
paid  it  and  sent  him  on  board.  He  had  found  pretty 
rough  quarters,  he  said,  in  the  lock-up,  and  had  been 
nearly  "flayed  alive  by  the  murderin  'flays" 

One  day's  liberty  was  much  like  another,  and  the 
same  old  haunts  were  visited  and  revisited.  We  had 
four  days  on  shore  for  each  watch,  and  when  the  star 
board  watch  came  off  the  last  time,  Burley,  the  sea- 
lawyer,  was  missing,  having  doubtless  deserted.  He 
had  been  long  enough  in  one  ship,  I  suppose  ;  and, 
besides,  he  had  lost  his  prestige  among  his  shipmates, 
and  was  looked  upon  with  contempt.  We  all  felt 
that  we  could  spare  him  without  a  pang.  To  fill  the 
vacancy,  a  Sandwich  Island  native  called  Peter  was 


164  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

shipped,  a  man  who  had  seen  considerable  service, 
having  steered  a  boat  in  two  or  three  ships,  and  who 
murdered  English  tolerably  well.  We  took  our  anchor 
in  the  afternoon  with  a  smart  breeze  from  the  south 
ward,  and  before  the  sun  went  down  we  were  once 
more  tossing  on  the  long  swells  of  the  broad  Pacific. 

"  Well,"  said  old  Jeff,  as  we  were  stowing  the  an 
chors,  "  I  reckon  that's  the  last  we'll  see  of  Turkey- 
warner  this  v'y'ge.  I  think  the  old  man'll  work  off  to 
the  westward,  and  finally  go  down  to  '  the  Groups.' " 

"  What  makes  you  think  so  ? "  said  I. 

"  Why,  the  old  man  as  good  as  told  me  before  we 
left  home  that  he  should  work  down  that  way.  He 
never  was  down  there  before  nor  /  neither.  Fvc  been 
three  v'y'ges  with  the  old  man,  and  weve  always  got 
our  oil  on  Peru,  and  Chili,  and  the  Galleypaguses. 
We  never  went  no  further' n  the  off-shore  ground." 

"  Why  should  he  go  so  far  out  of  his  old  tracks 
where  he  has  always  been  successful  ?  "  I  inquired. 

"  Well,  you  see,  Father  Graf  ton  he's  been  down 
there  last  voyage,  and  Mr.  Dunham,  too,  and  they 
have  great  faith  in  the  '  Groups,'  and  that  starts  the 
old  man.  Another  thing  makes  me  think  so  ;  he's 
fetched  out  a  big  stock  of  tobacker  this  v'y'ge.  I 
never  knew  him  to  have  so  much  before,  and  he  hasn't 
sold  a  pound  of  it  yet.  It's  all  there  in  the  run,  and 
that  means  he's  keepin  it  to  trade  down  among  the 
'Groups.'  He  hasn't  said  nothin'  to  me  about  it 
lately,  though  ;  I've  kept  thinking  he  would,'  cause  he 
generally  lets  me  know  beforehand  where  he's  going." 

It  was  one  of  Jeff's  harmless  peculiarities  to  pretend 


TALCAHUANA.  165 

to  considerable  knowledge  of  cabinet  secrets,  and  to 
affect  to  be  "  high  in  the  confidence  of  the  adminis 
tration,"  as  the  newspaper  correspondents  have  it. 

"  Well,"  said  he,  '  Burley  he's  given  us  the  slip  and 
I  reckon  nobody'll  mourn  much  about  the  loss  of  him. 
I  must  say  I  got  disappointed  in  that  man.  I  thought 
he  was  a  good  sailor  man,  and  all  I  was  fearful  of 
was  that  he  would  do  something  desprit.  I  thought 
he  had  courage  enough  to  make  good  his  words.  But 
it  turned  out  that  he  was  more  of  a  coward  than  /am, 
and  that's  needless,"  said  Jeff  with  a  grin  ;  "  and  as 
for  his  duty,  he  was  neither  sailor  nor  soger." 

"  He'll  go  on  board  of  some  other  ship/*  said  I, 
"  where  he  can  blow  his  gas  for  a  while,  but  he  wont 
wear  well  anywhere." 

"  No,"  said  Jeff,  "  only  as  long  as  it  takes  to  find 
him  out  and  take  his  measure  This  Peter  that  came 
aboard  to-day  is  a  smart-looking  Kanaka,  but  /don't 
think  much  of  Kanakas  anyhow."  Here  came  in  the 
prejudice  of  color  again.  "  But  I  never  told  you,  did 
I,"  continued  Jeff,  with  a  greenish  kind  of  blush,  "  that 
I  ran  away  myself  in  Turkey warner,  once  ? " 

"  No,"  I  answered.  "  I  thought  you  were  a  fixture 
of  the  ship  you  sailed  in." 

"  That  was  the  first  v'y'ge  I  was  in  the  Colossus. 
This  old  man  was  mate  with  us  then.  I  trusted  to  an 
old  "  Cholo  "  here  ;  he  said  he'd  stow  me  away  where 
all  creation  couldn't  find  me.  Well,  he  did  till  the  old 
man  offered,  twenty  dollars  bounty  for  me,  for  you  see 
he  couldn't  go  to  sea  without  me  nohow,  and  then  the 
old  mongrel  sold  me  to  get  the  reward.  He  just  went 


1 66  THE    LOG   OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

out  and  informed  where  I  was,  and  the  mate  (that's 
the  old  man  now)  came  and  roused  me  out  of  my 
hiding-place,  and  told  me  I'd  be  wiser  next  time  than 
to  trust  one  of  them  yaller  scoundrels.  And  so  I 
have  been.  Gi'me  white  or  black,  I  say  ;  for  where 
you  mix  'em,  you  spile  two  good  things." 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

THE  BILL-FISH. THE  MARQUESAS. A  PRISONER  AMONG 

THE    SAVAGES. 

DOWN  the  coasts  of  Chili  and  Peru  we  pursued  our 
voyage,  and  then  off-shore  among  the  Galapagos,  or 
"  Galleypaguses "  as  my  ebony  friends  Jeff  and  the 
doctor  would  say.  Here  we  took  one  large  whale,  but 
the  fleet  was  numerous,  and,  from  all  that  we  could 
learn,  they  not  were  doing  wonders,  and  the  old  man 
expressed  his  opinion  that  there  was  not  more  than  a 
whale  apiece  for  all  those  ships  ;  so  we  carried  sail  • 
again  to  the  westward,  running  down  the  equator  to 
the  longitude  of  120  to  130  degrees. west.  Here  we 
met  with  good  success,  taking  some  four  hundred 
barrels  in  the  next  four  months.  We  spoke  perhaps 
a  dozen  ships  during  that  time,  and  all  were  doing  a 
fair  season's  work. 

No  incident  of  note  occurred  during  this  pleasant 
cruise,  till  near  the  end  of  it ;  in  fact,  we  had  already 
kept  off  to  make  a  port  at  one  of  the  Marquesas 
Islands,  which  lay  conveniently  under  our  lee.  A 
school  of  bonitas  or  "skipjacks,"  as  we  more  com 
monly  call  them,  had  attached  themselves  to  us,  and 
kept  company  for  several  days.  These  fish  cannot  be 

said  to  follow  a  ship,  but  rather  lead,  for  they  almost 

167 


1 63  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA 

invariably  keep  ahead  of  her,  sporting  around  the 
bow.  We  were  running  perhaps  four  or  five  knots 
an  hour  with  moderate  trades,  and  the  fish  were 
gambolling  ahead  of  us,  as  usual,  when  Manoel,  in  the 
foretopgallant  crosstrees,  sung  out : 

"  Bill-fish  ! " 

"  Whereaway  ? "  asked  the  mate. 

"  Little  on  weather  bow,"  said  Manoel.  "  He  come 
this  way.  Chase  that  skeepxr//^^." 

"  O,  I  see  him  !  "  said  Father  Grafton.  "  Give  me 
an  iron  here  !  Never  mind,  here's  the  porpoise-iron, 
all  rigged  !  Get  another  iron,  Blacksmith,  and  look 
out  for  him  !  " 

The  bonitas  had  taken  alarm,  and  were  darting  here 
and  there,  and  leaping  into  the  air  to  escape  their 
natural  enemy,  whose  method  of  attack  is  to  make  a 
sudden  dart  at  his  victim  and  impale  him  upon  his  bill 
or  sword,  which  projects  in  a  straight  line  ahead  of 
him.  All  the  watch  on  deck  were  collected  at  the 
bow  to  witness  the  sport,  and  the  irons  were  ready,  if 
the  opportunity  offered,  to  transfix  him,  even  as  he 
would  the  bonita.  Suddenly,  after  having  paused  a 
moment  as  if  to  make  sure  of  his  aim,  he  made  a  dart 
towards  the  ship  with  the  speed  of  lightning ;  the  wily 
bonita  eluded  him  by  leaping  above  the  surface  just  in 
time,  and  the  bill-fish  disappeared  in  the  swash  under 
the  ship's  bows.  Father  Grafton  darted  at  him  as  he 
flew  past,  but  missed  him  ;  a  slight  jar  was  percepti 
ble  to  us  on  deck,  as  though  the  ship  had  hit  some 
small,  hard  object,  and  the  fish  rose  to  the  surface 
under  the  fore-chains,  quivering  in  the  agony  of  death, 


THE    BILL-FISH. THE    MARQUESAS,    ETC.  169 

his  bill  broken  off  short  up  to  his  head  f  No  time 
was  lost  in  bringing  the  ship  to  the  wind,  and  lowering 
a  boat  ;  and  we  soon  secured  the  fish  and  took  him  in 
on  deck. 

"  How  did  he  break  his  bill  off  so  short  ? "  I  asked, 
innocently. 

"  He  has  run  it  into  the  ship,  of  course,"  said  Father 
Graf  ton.  "  His  bill  is  probably  sticking  in  our  bows 
under  water.  I  hope  it  will  caulk  its  own  hole 
tight.  Rig  the  pump  there,  a  couple  of  ye,  and  try  her." 

We  did  so,  and  found  we  had  started  a  small  leak ; 
at  least,  we  found  more  water  than  usual,  though  it 
was  difficult  to  tell  immediately.  A  few  hours  hence 
we  could  judge  better.  The  mate  and  I  went  into  the 
forepeak  with  a  light,  and  after  moving  a  lot  of  wood 
and  empty  breakers,  we  found  what  we  were  in  search 
of  ;  the  end  of  the  bill,  projecting  full  six  inches 
through  the  ceiling  or  inside  planking  of  the  bows : 
the  bone,  bare  and  smooth  as  if  polished  with  sand 
.paper.  Of  course  we  could  tell  nothing  about  the 
leak  from  the  inside,  except  that  we  could  hear  the 
water  trickling  down  between  the  timbers.  The  old 
man  came  down  and  had  a  look  at  it  and  estimated  it 
to  be  about  three  feet  below  the  water  line. 

"  If  so,"  said  he,  "  we  can  stop  the  leak  ourselves  in 
any  smooth  harbor  where  we  can  get  her  head  up  and 
trim  her  stern  down.  There  is  no  fear  of  its  working 
loose  as  long  as  the  wood  is  new  and  sound  round  it. 
The  leak  is  not  a  serious  one,  to  be  sure,  but  it  is 
enough  to  annoy  us  all  the  time  and  make  consid 
erable  work,  and  a  kind  of  work,  too,  that  no  sailor  is 


THE    LOG   OF   THE    ARETHUSA. 

fond  of.  We  must  try,  when  we  get  in,  and  see 
what  we  can  do  with  it." 

It  was  found  after  a  few  hours'  trial,  that  the  leak 
was  about  a  hundred  and  fifty  strokes  an  hour.  Of 
course,  the  conversation,  in  our  hours  of  leisure  at 
night,  turned  upon  the  occurrence  of  the  day,  and  sev 
eral  instances  were  cited  which  were  known  to  have 
occurred,  of  a  character  similar  to  this.  The  mate  had 
known  two  or  three  cases  of  the  kind,  and  had  seen  a 
section  of  timber  preserved  in  a  museum  at  home  just 
as  it  was  sawed  out  when  the  ship  was  repaired,  the 
bill  still  in  the  wood  and  projecting  both  sides.  The 
cooper,  of  course,  had  known  numerous  instances ;  in 
fact,  his  experience  went  to  show  that  it  was  quite  an 
ordinary  thing  for  ships  to  be  "  stabbed,"  as  he  termed 
it.  And  as  for  the  leak,  that  was  a  mere  trifle,  "  hardly 
enough  to  keep  her  sweet,"  the  cooper  said.  "  Why, 
when  I  was  on  the  Banks,"  said  he,  "  in  the  old  Har 
binger,  she  leaked  so  that  the  pumps  were  going  all 
the  time,  and  the  crew  got  completely  worn  out ;  and 
at  last  the  old  man,  who  was  a  sort  of  natural  mechanic, 
invented  and  rigged  a  kind  of  windmill  up  in  the  main 
top,  that  would  keep  both  pumps  in  operation  as  long 
as  there  was  any  breeze." 

"  And  how  did  you  manage  it  in  a  calm  ? "    I  asked. 

"  That's  the  beauty  of  it,"  replied  the  cooper.  "  We 
attached  a  crank  to  the  shaft  of  the  mill,  and  a  long 
iron  rod  came  down  on  deck,  and  was  worked  by  a 
couple  of  men  on  a  big  treadle." 

"  And  how  did  you  like  the  treadmill  exercise  ?  *' 
inquired  the  mate. 


THE    BILL-FISH. — THE    MARQUESAS,    ETC.  171 

"That  was  pretty  hard  work  ;  and  you  may  depend 
we  were  glad  enough  to  see  a  breeze  coming  to  drive 
the  vanes.  But  it  was  better  than  working  brakes  by 
hand,  which  would  have  kept  four  men  at  work,  to  man 
both  pumps." 

"  Then  you  mean  to  say  that  both  pumps  were  go 
ing  all  the  time  ?  "  said  Mr.  Bunker. 

"  Certainly,"  returned  the  cooper.  "  And  she  leaked 
at  the  same  rate  all  the  time  ;  no  more  when  pitching 
in  a  gale  of  wind  than  when  lying  becalmed  in  smooth 
water ;  and  no  more  at  the  end  of  the  voyage  than 
when  six  weeks  out  from  home,  which  was  the  time 
that  the  leak  first  started.  Why,  she  leaked  so  that 
when  we  were  crossing  the  tropical  latitudes,  we  used 
frequently  to  pump  live  flying  fish !  and  once  or  twice 
the  pumps  got  completely  choked  with  Portuguese 
men-of-war  ! " 

"That's  nothing  at  all  i"  put  in  the  second  mate, 
who  happened  to  be  within  hearing.  "  I've  heard  say 
that,  on  board  the  old  Yorkshire,  they  used  to  take  off 
the  lower-deck  hatches,  sit  on  the  combings,  and  fish 
for  skipjacks  and  albicore  in  the  hold !" 

"  Yes  !  fish  for  them,  indeed,"  said  the  cooper  "  but 
did  they  catch  any  ?  " 

"  I've  heard  say  they  did,"  said  Mr.  Dunham.  "  I 
didn't  see  this  myself." 

"  O,  you've  heard  say ! "  returned  the  cooper,  with  a 
sneer.  "  Well,  I  did  see  this  myself,  that  I've  been 
telling  you  ;  and  what  I've  seen  I  know" 

*  A  few  days'  run  brought  us  among  the  Marquesas, 
and,  after  sending  a  boat  to  reconnoitre,  we  took  the 


1/2  THE   LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

ship  in,  and  came  to  anchor  in  the  bay  of  Hanayapa 
on  the  north  side  of  Ohevihoa,  an  island  better  known 
by  the  name  of  Dominica,  given  to  it  by  the  Spanish 
discoverer,  Mendana,  in  1597.  We  found  good  anchor 
age  in  thirteen  fathoms,  and  a  convenient  watering 
place.  A  native  came  on  board  while  we  were  yet 
outside,  who  had  served  some  time  on  board  a  whale- 
ship,  and  spoke  English  tolerably  well.  He  made  a 
pressing  offer  of  his  services  as  interpreter  and  trading- 
master,  which  position  he  had  filled  for  many  other 
ships,  and  produced  a  dirty  bundle  of  certificates  and 
recommendations,  signed  by  various  whaling  cap 
tains,  some  of  which  were  highly  satisfactory,  and 
others,  to  say  the  least,  somewhat  equivocal  ;  as  the 
thus : 

"  This  may  certify  that  the  bearer,  Jack  Bailey,  has 
been  interpreter  and  trading-master  for  me  during  my 
stay  at  this  place,  and  I  would  recommend  all  other  ship 
masters  who  may  anchor  here  to  employ  him — if  they 
cannot  do  better."  Or,  again,  "  The  bearer,  Jack 
Bailey,  has  worked  for  me  as  interpreter  and  go-be 
tween  with  the  natives  for  these  ten  days  past ;  and 
those  shipmasters  who  may  hereafter  employ  him 
for  the  same  length  of  time  — will  know  him  as  well 
as  I  do." 

He  was  equally  proud  of  all  these  testimonials,  and 
as  none  of  them  gave  him  a  positively  bad  name,  and 
there  appeared  to  be  no  opposition  candidate  in  the 
field,  his  services  were  engaged,  and  he  brought  with 
him  four  young  natives  to  row  the  boat  about  for 
him  on  trading  excursions,  etc.  He  seemed  to  have 


THE    BILL-FISH. THE    MARQUESAS,    ETC.  1/3 

a  realizing  sense  of  the  dignity  of  his  official  position, 
and  was  very  desirous  of  being  addressed  as  Mr. 
Bailey. 

"  All  right,"  said  the  old  man.  "If  you'll  serve  me 
any  the  better  for  it,  I'll  call  you  Captain  Bailey,  or 
even  Admiral  Bailey." 

Our  first  business,  after  landing  a  large  lot  of  empty 
casks  to  be  filled  with  water,  was  to  find  our  leak  and 
stop  it.  We  "  broke  out  "  everything  of  a  heavy  nature 
from  the  forehold,  and  stowed  it  away  aft,  roused  the 
bights  of  the  chain  cables  aft  ;  the  six-pounder  gun, 
the  blubber-hooks  and  other  ponderous  articles  were 
collected  as  near  the  taffrail  as  possible,  and  heavy 
casks  of  water  were  hoisted  and  slung  to  the  stern.  We 
finally  succeeded  in  raising  her  head  so  as  to  bring  the 
leak  out  of  water,  and,  taking  advantage  of  a  smooth 
time,  we  cut  out  a  piece  of  the  planking,  which  was 
split  and  shattered  somewhat,  and  replaced  it  by  a  new 
piece,  caulking  round  it  so  as  to  make  all  fair  and  tight 
as  ever.  It  was  found  that  the  bill,  after  passing,  of 
course,  through  the  copper,  sheathing-boards  and  out 
side  planking,  had  pierced  obliquely  through  the  cor 
ners  of  two  timbers,  and  then  through  the  ceiling,  also 
of  heavy  plank,  and  into  the  hold,  as  before  mention 
ed.  The  muscular  power  necessary  to  pierce  a  ship 
in  this  manner  seems  hardly  credible  in  an  animal  no 
larger  than  the  bill-fish,  but  the  facts  are  well  attested 
in  numerous  similar  cases.  In  our  case,  it  must  be 
remembered  that  the  ship  was  moving  in  an  opposite 
direction,  meeting  the  fish  "  head  to  head,"  which,  of 
course,  greatly  increased  the  momentum. 


1/4  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

We  had  finished  the  job,  repaired  the  sheathing  and 
copper  as  well,  and  we  -e  about  ready  to  stow  back  the 
forehold,  and  begin  tiimming  the  ship  to  her  old  bear 
ings,  when  a  canoe   came  alongside  containing  two 
natives  and  a  white   man,  from   a  settlement   called 
Hana-rora,  a  few  miles  to  leeward.     This  white  man 
represented  to  Captain  Upton  that  they  had  some  hogs 
and  fowl  to  dispose  of  at  his  village,  as  well  as  plenty 
of  fruit  and  cocoanuts,  and  persuaded  the  old  man  to 
go  down  there  with  the  boat.     It  was  observable  that 
trom  the  arrival  of  this  white  man,  Mr.  Bailey  became 
a  victim   of    ill-concealed  jealousy,  and  evidently  dis 
liked  the  idea  of  the  captain  going  down  to  the  leeward 
with  this  interloper,  instead  of  going  up  to  Hanaca-oa, 
as  had  been  arranged.     This  was  the  village  where 
Bailey  lived,  and  the  old  man  had  been  there  with  him 
two  or  three  times  and  made  some  traffic  with  his 
tribe,  but  was  not  so  successful  as  he  wished,  and  it 
appeared  that  the  natives  were  disposed  to  hold  back 
their  "  truck  "  to  get  higher  prices.     He  now  pacified 
him  as  well  as  possible,  telling  him  he  wished  him  to 
go,  as  promised,  up  to  his  own  settlement,  and  would 
send  an  officer  with  him  ;  while  he  himself  would  go 
down   to   Hana-rora  in  another  boat,  with  the  white 
"  beach-comber."     He   appeared   well    satisfied   with 
this  arrangement ;  and,  not  wishing  to  spare  either  of 
the  mates  from  the  ship  at  the  time,  the  captain  order 
ed  me  to  go  with  Bailey  up  to  Hana-ca-oa  :  and,  said 
he; 

"  Take  the  Kanaka,  Peter,  with  you  ;  he  understands 
the  language  pretty  well,  and  likes  to  go  on  these  boat 


THE    BILL-FISH. — THE    MARQUESAS,    ETC.  I/$ 

cruises.     That  will  be  enough,  with  Admiral  Bailey 
and  his  crew." 

The  two  boats  left  the  ship  about  the  same  time,  the 
captain  setting  his  sail  after  we  passed  out  of  the 
mouth  of  the  harbor,  and  running  down  to  the  leeward, 
while  we  took  to  our  oars,  pulling  up  along  shore 
against  the  trade-wind.  It  might  have  been  three 
miles  by  water  up  to  Hana-ca-oa,  and  rounding  the 
rocky  bluff,  we  pulled  into  abend  or  bight  of  no  great 
depth,  and  having  no  shelter  to  make  a  safe  and  con 
venient  ship  harbor.  There  was  a  handsome  beach 
at  the  head  of  the  bay,  but  the  surf  rolled  in  upon  it 
with  considerable  force.  Still  there  was  no  danger  at 
this  time  in  landing  a  whaleboat,  if  she  were  well 
handled.  Mr.  Bailey  had  the  steering-oar,  and  as  the 
boat  rose  upon  the  roller,  she  sheared  nearly  broadside 
on.  I  sprung  to  help  Bailey,  and  succeeded  in  head 
ing  her  in  for  the  beach  again,  so  that  she  was  thrown 
ashore  without  damage  beyond  shipping  a  little  water. 
We  soon  pulled  her  up  high  and  dry  on  the  rise  of  the 
beach,  and  passed  out  the  articles  of  traffic  that  we 
had  brought  with  us.  I  noticed  that  Bailey  seemed 
much  vexed  at  the  manner  of  landing  the  boat,  but 
supposed  the  boat  had  taken  a  shear,  and  got  the  ad 
vantage  of  him  ;  an  accident  liable  to  have  happened 
to  myself  or  to  any  other  man. 

At  his  suggestion,  we  carried  the  articles  taken  from 
the  boat  up  to  a  shady  spot  among  a  grove  of  cocoanut 
trees  but  a  short  distance  from  the  water.  This 
was  the  trading-ground,  or  market  where  the  barter 
was  to  be  carried  on.  Very  few  natives  had  made 


1/6  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

their  appearance,  and  these  few  brought  nothing  to 
sell.  But  Bailey  gave  me  to  understand  that  they 
would  not  bring  their  hogs  or  fruit  for  sale  till  after  the 
sun  went  down  more,  for  it  was  then  but  little  after 
noon ;  and  suggested  that  we  should  carry  the  articles 
up  to  his  house,  which  he  pointed  cut  at  no  great 
distance.  So  we  gathered  up  the  "  trade,"  and  backed 
the  whole  up  to  the  "  thatched  cottage,"  where  an  old 
man  was  sitting  in  the  doorway,  whom  Bailey  intro 
duced  to  me  as  his  father.  There  was  no  disputing  the 
family  resemblance ;  I  had  no  doubt  that  he  was 
Mr.  Bailey,  senior.  We  passed  all  the  things  into  the 
house  ;  and  I  entered  with  Bailey  to  see  that  they  were 
all  right  and  ready  for  market.  We  had  two  old  flint 
lock  muskets  which  might  have  done  good  service  at 
Bunker  Hill  or  the  Cowpens,  and  could  perhaps  be 
discharged  now  by  putting  a  live  coal  of  fire  into  the 
"  pan,"  though  I  have  no  doubt  the  butt  was  the  most 
dangerous  end  of  the  considered  as  weapons;  about 
a  dozen  "  cast  steel  "  hatchets,  three  or  four  pieces  of 
cheap  cottons  and  prints,  and  some  thirty  pounds  of 
very  ancient  "  niggerhead  "  tobacco.  I  accepted  a  very 
cordial  invitation  from  Mr.  Bailey  to  take  a  seat  upon 
the  mat  between  him  and  his  venerable  parent,  whose 
dim  eyes  were,  for  the  most  part,  fixed  in  speechless 
admiration  upon  the  treasures  I  have  mentioned. 
Bailey  had  closed  the  door  after  us,  and  taken  a  seat 
on  the  mat ;  and  now  for  the  first  time  he  threw  aside 
the  mask. 

"What   for   cap'n  go    Hanarora,"    said  he.   "with 
white  man  ? " 


THE    SILL-FISH. THE    MARQUESAS,    ETC. 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  I.  "  Because  he  wanted  to,  I 
suppose.  He  has  a  roving  commission,  I  presume, 
to  go  where  he  likes." 

"Well,"  said  Mr.  Bailey,  pointing  to  the  heap  of 
goods  on  the  floor,  "  I  got  these  tings,  now,  I  goin' 
keep  'em." 

The  old  gentleman  nodded  his  head  in  silent  ap 
proval. 

"I  got  you  here,,  too.     I  goin'  keep  you" 

"  The  deuce  you  are  !  "  said  I,  without  waiting  for 
the  old  man's  opinion  on  this  point.  We'll  see  about 
that." 

I  made  a  dash  for  the  door ;  my  would-be  jailor  did 
the  same ;  we  both  seized  it,  pulling  opposite  ways, 
but  I  proved  the  stronger !  I  pushed  him  aside,  flung 
the  door  open,  and  bounded  out  into  the  footpath. 
The  whole  thing  had  flashed  upon  me  at  once  !  I  now 
understood  that  his  intention  had  been  to  capsize  the 
ooat  in  the  surf,  making  it  appear  accidental  ;  and 
his  vexation  arose  from  his  failure  to  beach  her 
broadside  on,  as  he  had  meant  to  do.  As  I  struck 
into  the  path  leading,  towards  the  landing  I  encoun 
tered  Peter,  the  Mani  Kanaka,  coming  out  of  the 
bypath  through  the  bushes.  He,  too,  had  smelt 
treachery  in  the  air. 

"  Where  Bailey  ? "  said  he. 

"  In  his  house,"  said  I,  as  I  hurried  along  the  path. 
"  Come  on,  let's  go  to  the  boat." 

"  Where  four  Kanaka  pull  boat  ?  "  asked  Peter. 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  I.     "  I  haven't  seen  'em." 

"  Where  trade  ?  gun — hatchet — tobacker  ? " 

12 


178  THE   LOG    OF   THE   ARETHUSA. 

"  In  Bailey's  house.  He  has  taken  that.  He  tried 
to  take  me,  too." 

Just  then  a  single  savage,  evidently  a  person  of  note, 
hideously  tattooed,  dashed  diagonally  across  the  path 
ahead  of  us,  and  into  the  bushes,  heading  for  the  beach 
by  a  short  cut.  Peter  whipped  out  his  sheath-knife, 
and  gave  chase,  I  followed,  shouting  to  him  to  stop; 
which  he  did,  seeing  that  pursuit  was  hopeless. 

"  What  would  you  do  with  that  knife,  Peter  ? "  I 
said. 

"  Cut  him,"  answered  my  Kanaka,  dryly. 

"  If  you  did  so  our  lives  would  not  be  worth  a  straw. 
Put  up  your  knife,  Peter ;  we  can  do  nothing  fighting 
against  a  whole  tribe  of  these  scoundrels." 

As  we  emerged  from  the  bushes  upon  the  open 
sward,  we  came  in  full  view  of  a  crowd  of  savages, 
numbering  two  or  three  hundred,  collected  around  and 
near  our  boat,  which  had  been  hauled  up  still  higher 
on  the  beach.  It  was  ominous  of  evil  that  no  women 
or  children  were  to  be  seen.  Nearly  all  the  men  were 
armed,  some  with  weapons  of  their  own  manufacture, 
and  a  few  with  guns  ;  but  I  was  surprised  at  the  num 
ber  of  whale-lances,  broken  off  in  the  shank  and  fitted 
into  poles.  We  held  our  way  directly  to  the  boat,  and 
seizing  the  gunwale,  I  made  signs  for  help  to  shove 
her  into  the  water.  Several  laid  hold  with  me,  but  a 
still  larger  number  pulled  up  the  beach  instead  of  down, 
and  it  was  soon  evident  that  the  stronger  party  were  in 
favor  of  keeping  the  boat.  I  had  hoped  that  they  would 
have  been  content  with  seizing  the  goods  at  Bailey's 
house,  and  letting  us  go  with  our  boat  ;  for  Peter  and 


THE    BILL-FISH. THE    MARQUESAS,    ETC. 

myself  could  have  worked  our  way  back  to  the  ship ; 
but  I  now  gave  up  this  hope  ;  and  gave  my  attention 
to  their  noisy  conference,  trying  to  make  out  by  my 
own  observation,  as  well  as  by  what  Peter  could  under- 
stand  and  interpret,  the  intention  of  the  savages  in 
regard  to  ourselves.  They  seemed  to  be  much  di 
vided  in  opihion  ;  some  wished  to  shove  the  boat  off 
for  us,  and  let  us  go  ;  some  few  warriors  of  the  old 
school  were  in  favor  of  killing  us  ;  but  the  large 
majority  advocated  the  middle  course  of  holding  both 
men  and  boat  for  ransom.  My  feelings  may  be  imag 
ined,  as  I  sat  on  the  ground,  waiting  to  know  my 
doom  at  the  hands  of  the  yelling  savages,  who  were 
gesticulating  furiously  around  me,  and  brandishing 
their  ugly  weapons  in  the  excitement  of  controversy. 
I  was,  from  time  to  time,  assured  of  my  safety  by 
Peter,  who  took  the  matter  more  coolly  than  I  did,  as 
he  understood  not  only  the  language,  but  the  charac 
ter  of  the  people  much  better  than  I. 

"  He  no  kill,"  said  Peter.  "  He  no  hurt.  He  keep 
boat,  keep  man — make  old  man  pay  plenty  gun — hat 
chet — tobacka." 

But  now  a  new  motion  seemed  to  have  been  made, 
and  to  have  been  received  with  favor,  and  Peter  him* 
self  entered  warmly  into  the  discussion.  After  ex 
pressing  himself  in  a  very  decided  manner,  he  sud 
denly  threw  himself  down  on  the  beach  by  my  side, 
seized  my  hand  in  his,  still  protesting  in  his  own  gut 
tural  tongue.  The  Marquesans  and  Hawaians  both 
speak  dialects  of  the  same  language,  and  have  no  diffi 
culty  in  understanding  each  other. 


I8O  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

"  What's  the  matter,  Peter  ?  What  do  they  want 
now  ?  "  I  inquired,  anxiously  of  course. 

"  He  say  let  me  go  ship — see  old  man — keep^w 
here — me  no  like — me  tell  him  you  all  'e  same  my 
brother  ;  spose  keep  you  keep  me,  too." 

I  could  not  fail  to  be  touched  by  this  proof  of  devo 
tion  in  Peter,  who  having  his  own  personal  safety 
assured  him,  refused  to  abandon  me  ;  and  I  endeav 
ored,  as  far  as  possible,  to  make  him  understand  my 
feelings.  I  congratulated  myself  that  he  was  with  me. 
His  stubborn  firmness,  in  so  stoutly  refusing  to  go 
to  the  ship  and  leave  me  in  their  hands,  again  threw 
them  back  upon  their  old  disputes,  and  the  discord 
became  greater  than  before.  A  large  number  favored 
letting  both  of  us  go  free,  to  return  to  the  ship  by 
land  ;  and  this  party  was  evidently  gaining  ground. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

ESCAPE     FROM     THE      SAVAGES. — RECOVERY     OF     THE 
BOAT. MAGICAL    EFFECTS    OF    LYNCH    LAW. 

THIS  division  of  opinion  among  the  barbarians  was 
a  circumstance  in  our  favor  ;  and  some  of  them  made 
signals  aside  to  us  to  go,  slyly  swinging  their  hands 
in  the  direction  of  Hanayapa,  where  the  ship  lay.  In 
deed,  we  were  even  then  gradually  edging  away  from 
the  crowd  ;  for  Peter  had  seized  the  right  moment, 
while  the  confusion  was  at  its  heignt,  and  saying  to 
me  "  Come,"  we  continued  moving  carelessly  along 
the  beach,  and,  as  we  perceived  we  were  not  followed, 
we  almost  insensibly  quickened  our  pace,  looking  be 
hind  us  anxiously,  and  then  starting  on,  satisfied  from 
the  violence  of  the  clamor,  that  the  natives  would  not 
soon  agree  upon  their  plan  of  action,  and  knowing 
that  each  moment  was  precious  to  us.  Some  still 
waved  us  on  ;  while  others  beckoned  us  back  again, 
and  even  made  starts  in  pursuit,  but  were  accompanied 
and  headed  off  by  men  of  the  other  party,  when  all 
would  again  come  to  a  halt,  and  renew  the  war  of 
words  and  gestures.  In  this  way  we  had  increased 
our  distance  to  perhaps  three  hundred  yards,  when  I 
said  to  Peter: 

"  Don't  you  think  we  could  make  a  push  over  the 
mountains  inland,  and  find  our  way  to  the  ship  ? " 


iSz 


1 82  THE   LOG    OF    THE   ARETHUSA. 

"  No  good,"  said  my  companion  shortly.  "  Keep 
on  beach — climb  over  rock — come  to  'noder  beach — 
follow  water." 

I  relied  upon  his  judgment.  Indeed  this  was  the 
safer  course  for  us,  for,  as  soon  as  we  gained  the  sum 
mit  of  the  rocky  bluff,  or  spur,  which  rose  in  our  path, 
we  should  have  the  ship  in  sight,  and  could  shape  our 
course  with  some  certainty.  We  pushed  on  at  a  jog 
trot  now,  not  daring  yet  to  break  into  a  run,  and  wish 
ing  to  reserve  our  strength  for  the  time  when  we 
should  be  obliged  to  climb  the  rocks.  We  had  nearly 
reached  the  foot  of  the  cliff  when  Peter  suddenly  said 
to  me,  "  Look !  he  come  ! "  I  turned  my  head,  and  saw 
that  we  had  no  time  to  lose.  The  savages  were  start 
ing  in  pursuit,  and  the  party  who  were  determined  on 
our  captivity  appeared  to  be  now  in  the  ascendancy, 
as  we  knew  by  the  proud  bearing  of  their  leader  and 
chief-spokesman,  a  tall,  athletic  chief,  who,  with  his 
highly  polished  lance  poised  in  air  was  striding  in  ad 
vance  of  all  the  rest.  Loud  yells  rose  from  the 
throats  of  the  party,  as  they  beckoned  for  us  to  halt, 
and  come  back  ;  but  neither  I  nor  my  Kanaka  ship 
mate  could  see  the  propriety  of  again  placing  our 
selves  voluntarily  at  their  mercy,  now  that  we  had  so 
much  the  start  in  the  race. 

"  Now,"  said  Peter  as  we  reached  the  end  of  the 
beach,  "  keep  close  togedder.  We  go  up  rock — go 
alongside  of  it — keep  near  water." 

We  sprang  up  the  hill,  and  followed  round  the  face 
of  the  bluff,  making  sometimes  rapid  progress  for  a 
minute  or  two  and  then  obliged  to  ascend  and  descend 


ESCAPE   FROM   SAVAGES,   ETC.  183 

and  pass  places  where  there  was  but  little  foot 
hold.  Our  pursuers,  seeing  themselves  cheated  of 
their  prey,  redoubled  their  efforts  to  overtake  us  ;  and 
I  had  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that  they  were  es 
pecially  anxious  to  capture  me  ;  as  being  a  white  man, 
and  withal  a  petty  officer,  they  could  demand  a  high 
ransom.  I  was  determined  they  should  have  no  easy 
task  of  it,  and  I  could  see  that  the  Hawaian  was 
equally  resolved  not  to  be  taken  without  making  a 
desperate  fight.  Our  zigzag  route  had  carried  us 
gradually  upward  till  we  were  now  some  three  hundred 
feet  above  the  sea,  and  had  got  among  bushes  which 
grew  thickly  in  some  spots ;  while  here  and  there  a 
stunted  cocoanut-tree  forced  itself  up,  seeming  to  grow 
almost  from  a  foundation  of  rocks.  I  looked  round  to 
survey  the  situation.  The  greater  number  of  the  yell 
ing  devils  had  halted  at  the  base  of  the  cliff,  and  with 
loud  cries  were  urging  on  a  few  of  the  fastest  and 
strongest,  who  still  continued  the  chase.  The  tall 
chief  was  still  further  in  the  lead  than  before,  having 
distanced  all  others,  and  it  was  plain  that  he  was  rap 
idly  gaining.  I  could  see  his  lance  gleam  in  the  sun 
shine,  and  this  was  the  weapon  I  most  feared.  The 
man  next  in  rear  of  him  was  armed  with  a  musket,  but 
I  gave  myself  little  uneasiness  about  their  fire-arms,  as 
I  held  the  quality  of  both  guns  and  marksmen  in  con 
tempt. 

We  pushed  on,  doing  our  best,  and  taking  every 
possible  advantage  of  the  nature  of  the  ground  ;  but, 
ever  and  anon,  as  I  glanced  over  my  shoulder,  the 
lance  gleamed  brighter,  and  the  tall  savage  was  lessen- 


184  THE   LOG   OF   THE   ARETHUSA. 

ing  the  little  distance  that  separated  us.  I  saw  Peter's 
hand  feel  for  his  sheath-knife,  to  assure  himself  that  it 
was  ready  for  action  ;  his  breath  came  short  and  quick 
from  his  exertions,  and  still  more  from  excitement  at 
the  certainty  of  being  soon  brought  to  bay.  Suddenly 
his  face  lighted,  and  his  nostrils  seemed  to  be  doubled 
in  size. 

"  See  rock  ahead  ?  "  said  he,  pointing  with  his  hand. 

"Yes,"  answered  I,  pantingly.     "  What  then  ?" 

"  Fight  there.     Odder  side  of  it." 

Volumes  could  not  have  said  more.  His  whole 
plan  was  at  once  unfolded,  as  he  picked  up  a  sapling 
of  convenient  size  to  be  used  as  an  offensive  weapon. 

The  rock  of  which  he  spoke  projected  outward  from 
the  face  of  the  hill,  which  was  here  steeply  inclined, 
and,  to  double  round  it,  it  was  necessary  to  descend  a 
short  distance,  and  after  passing  it,  to  climb  up  again. 
We  passed  it,  and  Peter  turning  the  corner,  halted 
short,  and  struck  an  attitude  showing  that  he  meant 
to  meet  the  enemy  with  the  end  of  his  sapling,  to  har 
poon  him,  as  it  were,  instead  of  swinging  a  blow  at  him. 
He  crouched  close  to  the  rock,  saying  in  a  low,  quick 
tone : 

"Stand  behind  me — give  me  room  for  dart;  get 
nodder  stick — big  stone  all  'e  same.  If  I  miss  him, 
stand  by  to  give  it  to  him." 

Nothing  could  have  been  better  planned  ;  as  the 
pursuing  savage  could  not  see  him  until  their  faces 
were  close  together,  Peter  having  all  the  advantage 
of  the  higher  position.  Arming  myself  with  a  frag 
ment  of  rock  of  convenient  weight,  I  crouched  a  little 


ESCAPE   FROM    SAVAGES,    ETC.  185 

up  the  hill  in  rear  of  my  comrade,  just  giving  him 
room  to  draw  back  his  heavy  pole. 

We  had  not  long  to  wait,  ere  the  hard  breathing  of 
the  infuriated  chief  was  audible  as  he  struggled  round 
under  the  lee  of  the  projecting  boulder.  Peter  drew 
back  his  weapon  at  a  poise,  and  planted  his  feet  more 
firmly,  while  I  closed  up  a  little  with  my  stone  in  re 
serve.  The  horrible  tatooed  face  rose  into  view  like 
Banquo's  ghost.  Too  late  he  perceived  the  ruse  of 
the  wily  Hawaian,  and  vainly  struggled  to  bring  his 
lance  to  bear ;  the  sapling  met  him  full  in  the  face 
with  terrific  force,  and  he  was  hurled  backwards  down 
the  declivity,  receiving  my  stone  full  in  his  naked 
breast  as  he  fell.  He  did  not  go  far,  for  a  ledge  some 
ten  feet  below,  brought  him  up  ;  but  I  can  never  for 
get  the  appearance  of  his  crushed  and  bleeding  face 
upturned  to  us.  His  lance,  thrown  from  his  hand,  had 
stuck  in  a  turfy  spot,  and  seizing  this  weapon,  I  now 
felt  tolerably  safe  from  direct  pursuit,  though  I  was 
still  a  little  apprehensive  of  some  flank  movement 
from  the  mountain  above. 

We  struggled  on,  but  as  we  advanced,  we  found  we 
were  coming  where  the  face  of  the  precipice  was  im 
passable,  and  there  was  no  course  for  us  but  to  make 
our  way  upward  to  the  summit  of  the  mountain.  We 
soon  after  heard  voices,  as  of  men  cowering  above  us, 
and  presently  we  were  hailed  to  "  come  up  there  ! " 
I  understood  thus  much  of  the  Marquesan  gibberish  ; 
but  the  idea  of  a  flank  attack  instantly  recurred  to  my 
mind,  and  I  dreaded  lest  we  had  now  fallen  into  a 
snare  where  the  advantages  were  with  the  enemy,  he 


1 86  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

being  above  instead  of  beneath  us.  But  Peter  had 
already  answered  the  hail,  and  after  a  few  sentences 
were  interchanged,  he  started  directly  upward,  saying 
to  me,  "  All  right !  Come  on  "  Again  I  trusted  to 
his  knowledge  and  sagacity,  and  followed  without  fur- 
ther  question  ;  though  still  keeping  my  lance  ready 
for  immediate  use,  if  necessary  to  defend  myself. 

My  fears  were  soon  allayed,  however  ;  for  four  men 
dressed  in  shirts  and  trousers  like  seamen,  emerged 
into  view  on  a  ledge  or  terrace  above  us,  whom  I  rec 
ognized  as  the  boat's  crew,  whom  Bailey  had  employed. 
Up  to  this  time  nothing  had  been  seen  of  these  men, 
or  of  Bailey  himself,  since  I  pushed  my  way  out  of  his 
house. 

These  men  all  belonged  to  the  tribe  of  Hanayapa, 
where  the  ship  lay,  and  were  now  on  their  way  home 
to  their  own  village,  bearing  some  of  the  hatchets, 
cloth  and  tobacco  with  them,  and  filled  with  indigna 
tion  at  their  employer,  who  had  failed  to  satisfy  them 
in  the  distribution  of  the  plunder.  They  were,  of 
course,  ready  to  befriend  us,  and  to  pilot  us  back  to 
the  ship ;  taking  every  occasion  to  make  their  peace 
with  us,  and  to  vent  their  virtuous  indignation  by  de 
nouncing  all  the  tribe  to  windward  for  their  perfidy. 
"  Hanaca-oa  no  good,"  was  the  burden  of  their  tale, 
so  far  as  they  could  render  it  into  English  ;  but  they 
doubtless  ran  through  their  whole  vocabulary  of  gut 
tural  adjectives  for  the  benefit  of  my  companion.  They, 
of  course,  knew  nothing  of  our  fight  with  the  colossal 
chief  on  the  cliff,  and  we  did  not  enlighten  them  at 
present ;  but  when  they  inquired  where  I  got  the 


ESCAPE    FROM    SAVAGES,    ETC.  l8/ 

lance,  Peter  gave  them  to  understand  that  I  had  seized 
it  from  the  ground  when  we  first  started  to  make  our 
escape.  They  had  come  by  a  path  which  wound  over 
the  mountain  inland,  but  hereabouts  it  struck  nearer 
the  brow  of  the  cliff,  and  through  the  openings  in  the 
bushes  they  had  seen  us  beneath  them  some  time  be 
fore  they  could  be  seen  themselves. 

A  short  distance  further  on,  the  path  wound  over  a 
high  pinnacle  from  which  we  could  look  down  upon 
the  bay  of  Hanayapa,  and  the  gallant  Arethusa  riding 
at  anchor  ;  while  our  boat  could  be  seen  like  a  speck, 
coming  round  the  bluff  that  formed  the  other  side  of 
the  harbor's  mouth,  pulling  up  from  Hanarora.  A 
rugged  and  circuitous  route  carried  us  down  into  the 
valley,  and  a  canoe  was  soon  found  by  our  four  friends. 
Before  sundown  we  were  once  more  on  the  deck  of 
our  floating  home. 

The  old  man  was  highly  indignant  on  hearing  the 
particulars  of  our  story,  and  it  would  have  fared  hard 
with  the  traitor  Bailey,  could  he  have  laid  hands  on 
him  at  that  time.  The  goods  carried  ashore  for  traf 
fic  were  of  no  great  value,  and  were  doubtless,  ere 
this  time,  divided  up  and  scattered  beyond  all  hope  of 
recovery  ;  but  the  boat  was  of  more  importance  to  us, 
and  was  not  to  be  relinquished  without  an  effort  to  re 
cover  her.  In  the  mean  time,  as  it  was  uncertain  what 
trouble  might  grow  out  of  the  affair,  all  haste  was 
made  to  get  the  forehold  stowed  off,  and  trim  the  ship 
so  as  to  be  in  working  condition.  We  worked  like 
beavers  the  greater  part  of  the  night,  and  were  ready 
before  morning  to  get  under  way,  except  that  our 


lS8  THE    LOG    OF    THE   ARETHUSA. 

water  casks  were  still  on  shore,  most  of  them  being 
ready  filled.  We  knew  not  how  far  to  trust  the  chief 
or  king  of  the  tribe  of  Hanayapa.  It  was  uncertain 
whether  he  would  use  his  influence  to  assist  us  in  re 
covering  our  boat,  or  whether  he  would  sustain  his 
brother  potentate  at  Hanaca-oa  in  keeping  her  from 
us.  His  canoe  was  alongside  of  us  bright  and  early 
in  the  morning,  and  he  expressed  the  greatest  indigna 
tion  at  the  other  tribe,  and  professed  his  willingness 
to  aid  us  in  recovering  the  boat,  even  by  force,  if  ne 
cessary. 

While  the  king  was  on  board,  the  boats  were  sent 
in  to  the  watering-place  to  fill  and  raft  off  as  fast  as 
possible,  as  we  should  be  perfectly  secure  from  attack 
while  the  king  and  his  suite  were  detained  on  board  as 
hostages.  Our  water  was  all  off  and  hoisted  in  on 
deck,  in  a  couple  of  hours  ;  and  now  the  boat  was 
manned  for  Hanaca-oa,  taking  the  king  with  us  in  the 
boat,  and  his  canoe  following  us.  We  learned  from  the 
king  that  the  chief  whom  Peter  had  knocked  down  the 
cliff  was  still  alive,  and  would  probably  recover ;  but 
I  felt  certain  that,  if  he  did,  the  lines  of  beauty  in  the 
ornamental  work  of  his  face  were  forever  spoiled,  and 
its  former  hideousness  was  intensified  tenfold. 

We  did  not  leave  the  ship  without  taking  some 
precautionary  measures,  notwithstanding  the  appar 
ent  friendship  of  the  king.  If  he  really  was  acting 
in  good  faith,  we  desired  to  remain  two  or  three  days 
more  at  the  anchorage,  as  we  had  not  yet  obtained 
what  we  wanted  in  the  way  of  provisions.  But  prep 
arations  had  been  made  for  immediate  departure  in 


ESCAPE   FROM   SAVAGES,    ETC.  189 

case  it  should  be  found  that  we  were  deceived  in  him. 
The  chain  had  been  hove  in  nearly  short  during  the 
night,  and  the  six-pounder  had  been  loaded,  and  was 
ready  for  use  if  needed.  The  fore  and  maintopsails 
had  been  loosed  in  the  morning  while  the  king  was  on 
board  ;  but  this  attracted  no  attention,  as  we  had 
been  in  the  habit  of  loosing  some  one  or  two  of  the 
sails  every  dry  day,  furling  them  again  at  sundown. 
Several  women  were  on  board  when  we  left  the  ship, 
though  it  was  observed  that  the  number  was  smaller 
than  usual  ;  for  the  females  came  and  went  without 
question  at  all  hours,  having  small  canoes  which  they 
managed  themselves. 

Strict  orders  had  been  left  with  Mr.  Grafton,  that 
if  the  boat  was  not  seen  returning  within  two  hours, 
he  was  to  get  underway  and  stand  out,  beating  up 
towards  Hanaca-oa  ;  and  if,  before  that  time,  any  sus 
picious  circumstance  should  occur,  he  was  to  fire  the 
six-pounder  as  a  signal  to  us,  and,  at  the  same  time 
trip  his  anchor  and  stand  out.  I  was  in  the  cabin, 
and  heard  these  instructions  given  ;  and  it  was  plain 
to  me  that  the  old  man  did  not  intend  to  waste  much 
time  in  parley  to  recover  the  boat.  He  had  no  dcvbt 
of  the  power  of  our  pretended  friend,  as  the  king  of 
the  stronger  tribe,  and  in  some  sense,  ruler  over  both 
(as  we  had  learned  both  from  Bailey  and  from  the 
white  man)  ;  and  a  very  few  minutes,  would  suffice  to 
show  whether  he  really  meant  to  get  her  back  for  us 
or  not. 

We  shoved  off,  I  being  at  the  steering-oar,  with  the 
captain  and  the  king  seated  in  front  of  me,  on  a 


THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

movable  thwart  ;  the  king's  canoe  and  body-guard  of 
six  men  keeping  along  with  us.  As  we  opened  the 
bay  of  Hanaca-oa  but  few  natives  were  seen  on  the 
beach,  and  all  appeared  quiet  as  usual.  Our  boat 
could  be  seen  away  up  in  the  cocoanut-grove,  as  we 
judged  by  the  form  of  the  object,  though  she  was 
covered  with  mats  to  shield  her  from  the  sun's  rays. 
We  pulled  in  leisurely,  and  with  wary  eyes  about  us  ; 
the  king  seeming  unusually  talkative  with  the  old  man, 
and  sporting  to  the  best  advantage  what  little  English 
he  was  master  of. 

About  half-way  up  the  bay,  on  the  eastern  or 
weather  side,  an  irregular  point  of  rocks  made  out, 
forming  a  sort  of  cove,  opening  seaward,  and  observ 
ing  this,  I  had  edged  the  boat  up  towards  that  side  of 
the  bay.  The  old  man  half-turned  his  head  towards 
me,  as  he  noticed  this  change  of  course,  but  catching 
my  glance,  also  turned  his  own  in  the  same  direction. 
The  king  could  not  conceal  his  uneasiness,  as  he  ask 
ed,  with  a  constrained  laugh.  "  What  for  no  keep  off 
in  middle  ?  Dere  good  place — land  boat,"  not  know 
ing  that  we  had  no  intention  of  landing  at  all.  At 
this  instant,  the  point  of  a  paddle  was  raised  above 
the  low  rocks  near  the  mouth  of  the  cove,  but  a  short 
distance  from  us.  All  three  of  us  caught  sight  of  it ; 
the  king  half-sprung  to  his  feet  in  confusion,  and  waved 
to  his  men  in  the  canoe,  but  was  seized  by  the  old 
man,  and  forced  back  to  his  seat,  while  a  pistol  was 
held  at  his  ear.  "  Lay  round  !  "  shouted  the  captain  ; 
but  I  was  already  anticipating  the  order,  and  throwing 
her  head  out  to  sea  again.  As  I  tossed  the  mast  and 


ESCAPE    FROM    SAVAGES,    ETC.  IQI 

sail  into  the  bowman's  hands,  two  canoes  containing 
about  thirty  armed  men  shot  out  from  the  cove  and 
gave  chase  for  a  short  distance,  but,  seeing  that  we 
held  the  sovereign  completely  at  our  mercy,  and  that 
he  would  be  our  first  victim,  if  attacked,  they  rested 
on  their  paddles.  The  king's  canoe  paddled  in  our 
wake,  fast  dropping  astern,  as  we  were  now  moving 
swiftly  through  the  water  under  the  double  impulse 
of  the  sail  and  oars. 

A  dull  report,  muffled  by  the  intervening  land,  was 
borne  to  our  ears  ;  the  signal  agreed  upon  in  case  of 
any  suspicious  movements  at  Hanayapa  ;  and  the 
sound  lent  new  strength  to  the  arms  of  the  five  oars 
men,  while  the  cowering  king  shook  in  his  skin  with 
fear. 

"  Give  way,  hard,  men ! "  cried  Captain  Upton  ; 
"  the  ship  will  be  underway  before  we  get  there  ! 
Keep  quiet,  you  murdering  scoundrel !  "  he  added,  to 
the  ugly  representative  of  fallen  majesty,  who  had  here 
manifested  a  disposition  to  throw  himself  overboard. 
"  If  there  is  any  blood  spilled  in  this  matter,  I'll  take 
care  that  a  part  of  it  shall  be  royal,"  he  added,  pushing 
the  muzzle  of  the  pistol  fairly  into  his  ear. 

"  Hurrah  !  here  she  comes  ! "  I  cried  with  enthusi 
asm,  as  the  flying  jibboom  of  our  noble  ship  projected 
beyond  the  headland  now  at  no  great  distance  from 
us,  and  the  graceful  hull  drew  slowly  out  into  view  ; 
then  moving  more  swiftly  as  she  met  the  full  power 
of  the  fresh  trade  wind,  a  few  minutes  gave  her  a  safe 
offing  to  back  the  maintopsail  for  us  to  come  alongside 
She  was  under  her  three  topsails,  spanker  and  jib  ; 


THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

but  hands  were  already  aloft  to  loose  the  lighter  sails, 
and  the  courses  were  hanging  in  the  buntlines. 

"  Keep  this  arch-devil  secure  ! "  said  the  captain,  as 
we  pushed  his  royal  person  rather  disrespectfully  up 
the  side.  "  As  long  as  he  is  in  our  hands,  we  hold 
the  best  card  in  the  pack.  Didn't  have  any  harm 
done,  did  you,  Mr.  Grafton  ?  " 

"  No,  sir ;  we  gave  'em  the  slip  too  quick,"  an 
swered  the  mate.  "  Look  up  in  the  head  of  the  bay 
there  ! " 

We  looked  ;  sure  enough,  there  lay  a  large  fleet  of 
canoes  all  filled  with  armed  men,  resting,  like  baffled 
hounds  ;  while  on  our  weather  quarter,  at  a  safe  dis 
tance,  the  small  canoe  of  the  king  held  way  with  us, 
uncertain  whether  to  venture  any  nearer. 

"  Brace  full  and  down  tacks  ! "  said  the  old  man,  as 
soon  as  the  boat  was  hoisted  up.  "  Sheet  home  the 
to'gallantsails,  and  make  sail  as  fast  as  you  can  !  We'll 
make  a  good  stretch  off  shore,  Mr.  Grafton,  so  as  to 
fetch  to  windward  of  Hana — what's-his-name,  there, 
Admiral  Bailey's  place,  I  mean." 

Two  hours  off  shore  under  a  press  of  canvas,  and 
we  went  in  stays,  "  looking  "  well  up  for  the  eastern 
point  of  the  entrance  to  Hanaca-oa.  The  six-pounder 
was  loaded  with  ball,  and  roused  into  the  waist,  the 
gangway-board  unshipped,  and  a  block  and  whip 
rigged  at  the  fore-yardarm. 

"  What  the  devil  is  that  for  ? "  asked  the  cooper,  of 
the  second  mate,  who  was  superintending  these  opera 
tions. 

"  To  make  fools  ask  questions,"  returned  the  second 


ESCAPE    FROM    SAVAGES,    ETC.  193 

mate,  dryly.      "  There'll  be  another  yarn  for  you, 
cooper,  when  we  get  thought  the  scrape. " 

"  The  yarn  will  be  well  stretched,  whether  the  king's 
neck  is  or  not,"  said  Mr.  Grafton,  aside  to  me. 

"  Haul  the  mainsail  up  ! "  shouted  the  old  man,  as 
we  drew  in  shore. 

"  We'll  stand  close  in  under  the  weather-point  here, 
and  luff  to  in  full  view  of  those  devils  on  the  beach 
there.  Take  that  old  traitor  forward  to  the  cathead  ! 
Haul  the  foresail  up,  so  the  audience  can  all  get  their 
money's  worth  !  I  hope  I  sha'n't  have  to  commit 
regicide"  he  added,  in  his  low  dry  tone,  "  but  I  want 
to  scare  him  almost  to  death." 

We  hove  to,  so  as  to  bring  our  starboard  "  battery" 
to  bear  fairly  upon  the  landing-place.  A  plank  was 
rigged  out,  the  king  was  mounted  upon  it  in  full  sight 
of  his  subjects,  and  the  slip-noose  adjusted  round  his 
neck.  These  operations  produced  a  magical  effect  on 
shore  ;  the  savages  could  be  seen  running  distractedly 
about  the  beach,  and  the  air  was  vocal  with  wild  yells. 
Presently  a  large  party  of  them  made  a  rush  for  the 
mat-covered  object  up  in  the  cocoanut-grove. 

"  That's  the  idea  !  "  said  the  old  man,  who  had  his 
glass  bearing  upon  them.  "  Give  them  a  shot,  Mr. 
Dunham,  to  quicken  their  movements  !  We  can't 
afford  to  lie  here  long,  waiting." 

The  smart  report  of  the  six-pounder  rang  out  over 
the  water,  echoing  and  re-echoing  round  the  concave 
of  the  bay.  Some  thirty  or  forty  of  the  frightened 
barbarians  picked  up  the  boat,  and  started  upon  the 
run  for  the  beach. 

13 


194  THE    LOG   OF   THE    ARETHUSA. 

"  That  makes  them  '  step  lightly  ! '  "  said  the  old 
man.  "  Load  up  again,  Mr.  Dunham  !  Powder  and 
wad  will  be  enough  this  time.  Don't  waste  any  balls 
upon  them." 

At  the  second  snap  of  the  gun,  our  boat  was  com 
ing  out  through  the  rollers,  and  two  canoes  with  her 
to  take  her  in  tow.  The  trembling  wretch  was  re 
leased,  shorn  of  all  his  majesty  for  the  time  being. 
We  waifed  his  canoe,  which  was  still  hovering  round, 
to  come  alongside.  Our  boat  was  hoisted  up  on  one 
side,  while  the  king  went  down  the  other. 

"  Brail  up  the  spanker  !  "  said  the  captain.  "  Put 
your  helm  up  there !  We'll  run  down  to  Hanarora 
now,  and  lie  off  and  on  for  what  we  want.  I  think 
I  see  Jim's  canoe  coming  up  along  shore  now." 

It  was  indeed,  the  white  man,  Jim,  who  had  come 
up  to  warn  us  against  treachery  ;  but  found  he  was 
too  late  as  we  had  already  left  the  anchorage. 

On  coming  on  board,  he  informed  us  that  the  chief 
whom  Peter  had  punched  in  the  face  with  the  sapling, 
died  the  same  night  of  his  injuries  ;  and  that  the 
chiefs,  actuated  by  the  double  motives  of  revenge  and 
plunder,  had  planned  to  get  possession  of  the  ship, 
and  had  sent  envoys  to  the  chief  at  Hanarora,  who 
declined  cooperating.  The  arch-traitor  had  accom 
panied  us  to  Hanaca-oa,thinking  we  would  land  without 
suspicion  ;  or,  if  not,  he  himself  could  go  ashore  there, 
under  pretence  of  getting  the  boat  for  us,  and  as  soon 
as  he  was  safe  on  the  beach,  the  attack  was  to  be 
made  at  both  places.  We  who  were  insolated  from 
;he  ship  could  be  easily  disposed  of  ;  and  if  we  took 
Che  alarm  and  tried  to  escape,  we  should  be  headed 


ESCAPE    FROM    SAVAGES,    ETC.  1 95 

off  by  the  canoes  stationed  in  the  cove.  The  crews 
of  these  last  had  betrayed  themselves  by  showing  the 
paddle  in  the  air,  but  whether  through  carelessness, 
or  whether  this  was  a  signal  intended  only  for  the 
king's  eye,  Jim  could  not  tell.  As  soon  as  he  learned 
this  much,  he  had  started  for  the  ship  to  inform 
Mr.  Grafton  of  the  danger,  but  was  too  late,  the  ship 
being  under  way  before  he  arrived. 

Mr.  Grafton,  soon  after  we  left  the  ship,  feeling 
uneasy,  went  aloft  into  the  topmast  crosstrees  to  make 
observations.  On  the  weather  side  of  the  bay,  to 
wards  Hanaca-oa,  a  small  river  flowed  down  and 
emptied  itself,  the  banks  of  which,  beyond  the  first 
bend,  were  overhung  by  bushes  of  no  great  height,  but 
sufficient  to  conceal  anything  in  the  creek  from  the 
deck.  But  from  his  elevated  perch  it  was  possible  to 
overlook  them  ;  and  the  mate  saw  enough  to  excite 
his  apprehension.  Several  canoes  passed  across  the 
creek  filled  with  men,  while  he  was  on  the  lookout, 
and  went  out  of  view  behind  the  screen  of  bushes. 
He  came  down  on  deck,  and  fired  the  gun  as  had 
been  agreed  upon,  manning  the  windlass  at  the  same 
time.  The  anchor  was  just  breaking  ground  and  the 
topsail-sheets  being  hauled  home,  when  a  shrill  whistle 
was  heard  on  the  beach,  and  looking  about  him,  the 
last  three  women  who  had  remained  on  board  were 
getting  into  their  canoe.  It  was  too  late  to  think  of 
detaining  them  ;  the  ship's  head  was  swinging,  and, 
as  she  gathered  headway,  the  flotilla  of  canoes  hove 
in  sight  at  the  mouth  of  the  creek,  making  the  welkin 
ring  with  the  cries  of  baffled  rage. 


196  THE  LOG   OF   THE   ARETHUSA. 

"  Now,"  said  the  mate,  "  they  must  have  known  at 
that  moment  that  the  plan  was  frustrated,  and  that  the 
captain's  boat  had  put  back  for  the  ship.  And  by 
the  way,  Jim,  you  must  have  known  it,  too,  by  the  time 
I  was  under  way.  What  kind  of  telegraph  do  you 
make  use  of  here  ? " 

"  The  human  telegraph,"  said  Jim.  "  That  same 
whistle  that  you  heard  is  repeated  along  the  mountain 
paths,  all  the  way  down  to  Hanarora,  and  on  some 
occasions,  all  round  the  island.  The  men  are  stationed 
at  proper  distances  so  as  to  be  within  sound  of  each 
other's  whistles,  and  the  whistle  has  certain  variations 
to  suit  different  circumstances." 

"  I  see,"  said  the  old  man,  "  like  Nelson's  repeating 
frigates  off  Cadiz,  to  signalize  when  the  French  took 
their  anchors  ;  the  main  body  of  his  fleet  being  sixty 
miles  off  shore." 


We  finished  our  business  at  Hanarora  the  next  day, 
and  once  more  made  all  sail  to  the  westward  for  a 
cruise  among  "  The  Groups." 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

THE    COOPER    "  ROMANCES." INCIDENTS. BYRON*S 

ISLAND. 

"WHAT  did  you  value  your  life  at,  when  the  can 
nibals  were  holding  their  powwow  over  you,  the  other 
day  to  Dominica  ? "  asked  the  cooper,  who  was  whit 
tling  a  charge  for  his  pipe  from  a  long  twist  of  "  nigger- 
head." 

"  At  a  very  low  figure,"  said  I.  "  At  one  time  I'd  have 
been  glad  to  sell  out  at  a  nominal  price.  But  do  you 
really  suppose  they  are  cannibals  ? " 

"  Of  course  they  are/'  returned  the  cooper.  "  Prob 
ably  one  of  the  points  they  were  disputing  about  was, 
how  it  was  best  to  cook  and  dress  you.'' 

"  But  Peter  says  they  had  no  intention  of  killing  us 
at  all,  and  as  he  understands  the  language,  I  suppose 
he  knows  best.  But  I  confess,  that  in  spite  of  his 
assurances,  I  felt  anything  but  safe  ;  for  at  any  moment 
some  impulsive  child  of  nature  might  have  driven  a 
lance  through  me,  just  to  end  the  controversy." 

"  And  don't  you  see,"  said  Fisher,  "  that  Peter's 
view  of  the  matter  would  partially  spoil  the  poetry  of 
Cooper's  yarn,  that  he  means  to  found  on  the  facts  ?" 

"  Of  course,"  said  the  cooper.     "  There's  not  half 

as  much  romance  in  knowing  that  you  are  to  be  cooped 

197 


THE    LOG    OF    THE   ARETHUSA. 

up  in  a  bamboo  calaboose,  and  ransomed  for  old 
Revolutionary  muskets,  as  there  is  in  the  other  view 
of  the  matter." 

"  And  what  may  be  your  other  view  of  the  matter  ? " 
I  asked. 

"  Why,  in  the  absence  of  any  positive  knowledge, 
you  can  let  the  imagination  run  free,"  said  the  cooper, 
rising  to  light  his  pipe  at  the  hanging  lamp,  and  strik 
ing  an  attitude.  "  You  may  just  suppose  yourself  neatly 
transfixed  by  the  javelin  of  a  barbaric  chieftain,  and 
your  spirit  passing  gently  away  to  the  music  of  tom 
toms,  blending  with  melodious  voices  chanting  the 
wild  'hula-hula.'  "Then,"  he  continued,  shaking  his 
immense  beard,  as  he  warmed  with  his  subject,  "  you 
are  laid  out  in  state  in  the  halls  of  the  Marquesan 
Caesars  (or  Montezumas,  if  you  prefer  that),  to  grace  a 
'  Kava  feast'  of  princes  of  the  blood  ;  you  are  done  to 
a  turn  at  the  hands  of  the  chief  doctor  of  the  palace  ; 
and  served  up  in  curry  as  the  leading  dish  at  a  right 
royal  banquet,  flanked  by  immense  bunches  of  the 
golden  banana  at  one  end,  and  pyramids  of  breadfruit 
at  the  other." 

"  Delightful !  "  said  I.  "  There's  nothing  in  Fox's 
Book  of  Martyrs  half  as  satisfactory — to  the  narrator. 
But,  being  the  hero  of  the  adventure  myself,  I  should 
vote  for  the  calaboose  and  the  ransom.  Besides,  it 
would  be  some  satisfaction  to  know  one's  precise  value 
in  this  market ;  just  how  many  old  flint-locks  you  are 
worth,  or  whether  you  could  be  quoted  at  par,  with 
old  nigger-head  tobacco,  pound  for  pound." 

"But,  joking  aside,"  said  the  cooper,  "  I  don't,  of 


THE    COOPER   "  ROMANCES,"    ETC.  1 99 

course,  know  whether  that  particular  tribe  are  canni 
bals  or  not,  but  it  is  pretty  well  established  that  there 
are  tribes  on  this  Marquesan  group,  who  deserve  that 
name.  The  tribe  of  Taipi,  in  the  island  of  Nukahiva, 
are  somewhat  notorious  in  that  line." 

"  That  is  the  island  where  the  French  are  planting 
a  colony  now,  or  trying  to,  isn't  it  ?  "  said  I. 

"  Yes,"  answered  the  cooper.  "  Jim,  the  white  man, 
told  me  they  had  quite  a  force  of  troops  there,  and  a 
frigate  or  two  on  this  station.  But  I  think  they  will 
have  their  hands  full,  for  these  islanders  are  a  naturally 
savage  race,  particularly  so,  and  warlike,  too.  It  will 
not  be  an  easy  thing  to  civilize  them,  or  to  subdue 
them  either,  in  their  native  mountains." 

"  Did  you  ever,  in  your  own  experience,  have  any 
proofs  that  they  really  eat  men  at  any  of  this  group  ? " 
I  asked. 

"  No,"  he  replied,  "  I  can't  say  that  I  ever  did,  I  only 
give  the  reports  at  second-hand." 

"  Well,  Cooper,"  said  I,  "  I  am  disappointed  in  you 
this  time.  I  had  made  up  my  mind  to  listen  to  mar 
vellous  tales  of 

'  Anthropophagi,  and  men  whose  heads 
Do  grow  beneath  their  shoulders/  " 

"No,"  said  the  cooper  conscientiously,  "I  cannot 
swear  to  the  cannibals,  and  I  have  never  seen  men  with 
their  heads  under  their  shoulders  ;  but  I've  seen  a  tribe 
in  New  Holland  with  their  faces  looking  behind  them, 
or  the  spinal  column  in  front  of  them,  which  ever  you 
choose  to  have  it." 


2OO  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

"  Which  way  did  they  walk  ? "  I  asked 

"Both  ways,  equally  well.  Like  these  canoes  down 
at  the  groups,  they  just  shift  their  sail,  and  the  stern 
becomes  the  bow.  You  should  see  those  Yohos  out 
in  the  bush,  hunting  with  the  face  turned  over  one 
shoulder,  prepared  to  run  either  way,  at  the  shortest 
notice.  But  I  think  the  most  diverting  thing  was  a 
grand  war-dance  that  I  saw  there,  a  sort  of  forward- 
and-back  movement  that  displayed  their  double-ender 
qualities  to  the  best  advantage." 

"  There,  that'll  do,  Cooper,"  said  Fisher.  "  Dry  up 
now,  and  turn  in." 

"  Fact !  "  replied  the  cooper,  with  the  utmost  grav 
ity.  "  You  may  laugh  and  you  may  doubt,  but  what 
I've  seen,  I  know." 

The  next  landfall  after  leaving  the  Marquesas,  was 
Starbuck's  Island,  low  and  dangerous,  where  the  cap 
tain  lowered  his  boat  and  went  ashore,  but  found  no 
thing  of  interest  but  an  old  trypot,  some  staves  and 
hoops  of  decayed  casks,  and  a  few  other  mementoes  of 
the  wreck  of  the  Independence,  of  Nantucket,  which 
ran  ashore  here  in  the  night  under  full  headway  a  few 
years  before.  The  crew  lived  some  time  on  this  isl 
and,  being  obliged  to  construct  a  substitute  for  a  still 
and  make  water  for  use  from  sea-water.  A  part  of 
them  finally  made  their  way  to  Otaheite  in  boats, 
and  the  rest  were  taken  off  the  island  by  a  passing 
ship. 

Nearly  on  the  meridian  we  saw  a  "  school  of  cows 
and  calves,"  and  here,  for  the  first  time,  I  had  an  op 
portunity  of  seeing  sperm  whales  •'  bring  to  "  hand- 


THE    COOPER    "  ROMANCES,"    ETC.  2OI 

somely.     The  second  mate  struck  first,  and  his  whale, 
after  running  a  short  distance,  stopped,  and  all  the  rest 
came  up  around  him,  and  lay  for  some   time,  blowing, 
"  heads  and  points,"  while  we  in  the  other  two  boats 
pulled  on  and  fastened  at  our  leisure,  selecting  the 
largest  cows.      After  we  were  well  fast,  instead  of 
immediately  killing  our  whales,  we  lanced  loose  ones, 
and  the  sport  was  very  exciting,  as  the  whales  were  up 
and  down  in  all  directions  among  the  boats,  and  some 
difficulty  was  met  with  from  the  fast  whales  crossing 
each  other's   course,  and  thus  fouling  the  lines.     Of 
course  many  of  the  loose  whales  which  we  killed  were 
lost,  as  it  was  quite  impossible  to  keep  the  run  of  them 
all,  and  a  freshly-killed  whale  cannot  be  seen  at  any 
considerable  distance,  without  a  waif  to  indicate   his 
whereabouts.     And  here  for  the  first  time  I  saw  the 
use  of  a  contrivance  called  a  "  waif-drug,"  for  attaching 
the  tell-tale  flag  to  a  whale  while  still  alive.     A  short 
toggle  of  oak  is  fitted  firmly  in  the  centre  of  a  square 
piece  of  plank,  one  end  of   the  toggle  is  bored  to  step 
the  waif-pole  in,  and  the  other  is  loaded  with  iron  suf 
ficiently  to  balance  but  not  to  sink  it.      This  is  attach 
ed  by  a  few  fathoms  of  line  to  a  harpoon,  which  being 
darted  into  a  whale  after  he  has  been  mortally  wounded 
with  the  lance,  the  plank  drug  rests   flat  on  the  sur 
face,  and  the  pole   and  waif  are  kept   in   an   upright 
position.     Eight  whales  were  collected  and  secured  as 
the  reward  of  our  exertions,  though   the  whole  eight 
yielded  but  little  more  oil  than  the  one  taken  off  Juan 
Fernandez. 

Not  wishing  to  run  too  fast  over  the  ground,  we 


202  THE    LOG   OF   THE   ARETHUSA. 

hauled  on  a  wind  while  boiling  these  whales ;  and  the 
next  day  after  "  cooling  down,"  we  ran  to  the  westward 
and  made  an  island,  low  but  well  wooded  ;  the  top- 
branches  of  the  beautiful  cocoanut-tree  being  the  first 
object  to  break  the  horizon  line.  This,  the  mate  in 
formed  me,  was  Byron's  Island,  the  weathermost  of 
KingsmilFs  Group.  Very  soon  the  sails  of  numerous 
canoes  were  to  be  seen  approaching,  for  a  ship  can  be 
discovered  almost  as  soon  as  she  makes  the  land,  all 
the  islands  of  this  group  being  low.  The  fleet  of  ca 
noes  was  constantly  receiving  fresh  accessions  as  we 
drew  nearer  the  land,  the  number  increasing  till  more 
than  a  hundred  could  be  counted  from  the  deck.  They 
worked  to  windward  rapidly,  having  immense  triangu 
lar  sails  of  matting.  The  first  canoe  that  neared  us 
came  boldly  alongside,  throwing  a  line  which  was 
caught  by  eager  hands  on  deck,  for  we  were  all  on  the 
tiptoe  of  curiosity  to  cultivate  closer  acquaintance  with 
this  singular  people. 

"Here  he  comes,  stem  on  for  Dover  Castle  !"  said 
the  second  mate,as  the  canoe's  bow  struck  in  the  waist 
with  considerable  force,  and  then,  snubbed  by  her  warp, 
she  swung  fore  and  aft,  while  the  savages,  taking  the 
line  in  to  one  of  the  thwart  timbers,  "  bowed  her  off  " 
with  much  skill,  for  the  ship  was  going  at  a  smart 
rate  through  the  water.  By  this  time  other  canoes 
were  crowding  upon  the  first  one,  all  anxious  to  be  the 
first  to  make  a  trade  with  us  ;  each  with  a  line  of  its 
own  ready  to  throw  to  us,  or  else  clamoring  for  a  rope's 
end  to  be  thrown  from  the  ship.  Some  fell  short,  and 
the  ship  flew  past  them ;  but,  nothing  daunted,  they 


THE  COOPER  "ROMANCES,     ETC.  203 

fell  into  her  wake,  knowing  that  she  would  heave  to 
soon.  Some  ran  into  others,  doing  considerable  dam 
age  to  their  frail  structures  and  increasing  the  clamor 
and  confusion.  I  noticed  one  strapping  fellow  in  the 
first  canoe,  who,  with  both  hands  full  of  "  truck,"  was 
making  the  most  urgent  signs  and  cries  for  a  rope  to 
be  thrown  to  him.  Curious  to  see  how  he  would 
manage,  I  flung  him  one  which  he  seized  with  his 
teeth,  and  without  hesitation  threw  himself  overboard, 
still  holding  his  wares  in  both  hands  and  five  or  six 
"  sennit  "  hats  upon  his  head.  He  swung  alongside 
towing  by  the  vice-like  grip  of  his  teeth  upon  the  rope, 
the  ship  moving  at  a  rate  that  I  should  suppose  would 
have  torn  any  white  man's  jaws  out  of  his  head,  unless 
he  opened  them  and  let  go  his  hold.  I  jumped  into 
the  chains  and  reaching  down,  managed  to  relieve  one 
of  his  hands  of  its  load,  so  that  he  could  have  one  arm 
and  his  teeth  to  tow  by,  for  it  was  hardly  possible  to 
get  him  on  board  until  the  ship's  way  was  stopped. 
A  canoe  was  now  driving  right  upon  him,  having 
swung  in  against  the  ship  in  consequence  of  collision 
with  another,  but  he  paid  little  heed  to  her,  simply 
diving  under  and  rising  again  the  other  side  of  her, 
seemingly  as  much  at  home  in  the  water  as  a  por 
poise. 

Faster  and  faster  the  reinforcements  of  canoes 
gather,  and  the  Babel  of  guttural  shouts  and  yells  ex 
ceeds  all  descriptive  powers.  Each  canoe  contains  at 
least  one  representative  of  the  gentler  sex ;  some  of 
them  two  or  three ;  but  the  women,  contrary  to  all 
rules  among  civilized  communities,  have  but  little  to 


2O4  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

say.  Crash !  I  run  to  the  other  side  of  the  deck 
to  see  what  has  happened  ;  an  unfortunate  canoe  has 
filled  and  swamped  alongside,  torn  her  thwart  out  by 
the  strain  upon  the  warp,  and  the  apparent  wreck  is 
drifting  into  our  wake,  the  crew  swimming  off  with 
her,  for  the  women  areas  amphibious  as  the  men,  their 
yells  rise  louder  than  ever,  while  screams  of  derisive 
laughter  greet  them  on  every  side  from  their  unsym- 
pathizing  consorts.  As  Manoel  the  Portuguese  ex 
pressively  says,  it  is  "  every  man  for  myself  "  in  this 
crowd.  Anxious  to  know  how  they  will  conduct  under 
these  circumstances,  I  jump  up  on  the  shearpole  and 
follow  them  with  my  eye.  As  soon  as  they  wind  their 
way  out  of  the  thickest  crowd  of  the  pursuing  canoes, 
they  seize  their  own  by  the  head  and  stern,  and  shoot 
ing  her  violently  fore  and  aft  a  few  times,  she  slops 
about  half  the  water  out  over  the  two  ends  ;  a  man 
then  jumps  lightly  into  her,  and  commences  baling  ; 
soon  she  will  bear  another  man  ;  and  it  is  not  many 
minutes  ere  she  takes  her  place  in  the  fleet,  though 
now  occupying  a  rear  position,  a  bit  of  seizing  stuff 
completes  her  repairs,  and  they  are  after  us  again, 
joining  in  the  general  laugh,  and  eager  as  ever. 

"  Haul  the  mainsail  up  !  and  square  the  main  yard ! " 
cries  the  old  man  with  a  desperate  effort  to  make  him 
self  heard  above  the  clamor  and  din. 

The  orders  are  repeated  by  the  mates,  and  the  ship 
is  soon  hove  to,  the  canoes  closing  up  around  us. 
Everything  of  a  portable  nature  has  been  picked  up 
about  the  decks,  and  stowed  away  out  of  reach,  for  all 
savages  are  known  to  be  adepts  at  thieving ;  indeed 


THE    COOPER    "  ROMANCES,      ETC. 

their  exploits  in  this  way  would  do  honor  to  the  most 
expert  "  professionals  "  in  England  or  America. 

Some  caution  against  treachery  is  also  necessary  at 
all  times  in  dealing  with  these  people,  though,  as  a 
general  rule,  where  they  come  without  arms,  and  ac 
companied  by  women  and  children,  no  danger  is  to  be 
apprehended. 

As  soon  as  the  ship's  way  was  stopped,  the  islanders 
poured  in  over  the  rail  in  vast  numbers,  and  a  brisk 
traffic  was  carried  on  for  cocoanut,  mats,  hats,  shells, 
etc.  Tobacco  was  the  precious  metal  and  root  of  all 
evil  with  this  people.  Iron  they  seemed  to  care  very  lit 
tle  for,unless  an  opportunity  offered  to  steal  it,  but  "  ta- 
bahky  "  was  the  very  goal  of  their  desires,  and  for  this 
they  would  barter  soul  and  body.  Articles  of  clothing 
were  in  no  request ;  indeed  they  offered  some  for  sale 
for  bits  of  tobacco,  having  probably  stolen  them  from 
previous  visitors.  The  costumes  of  these  natives  are 
exceedingly  light  and  airy,  the  men  having  absolutely 
no  covering  beyond  what  Nature  has  provided  ;  while 
the  females  were  restricted  to  a  single  garment  not 
unlike  the  Highland  philibeg,  the  material  being  grass 
or  seaweed. 

More  canoes  kept  paddling  up  alongside,  and  attach 
ing  themselves  to  the  offside  of 'the  first  comers,  till  the 
ship  was  surrounded  with  them  several  tiers  deep,  ex 
tending  to  a  considerable  distance  ;  for  these  crafts 
occupy  much  space  in  beam,  not  so  much  from  the 
size  of  the  boat  itself,  as  of  the  bulky  "outrigger" 
built  out  one  side  to  balance  her  when  carrying  sail. 
These  islands  produce  no  trees  suitable  for  making 


2C>6  THE    LOG    OF   THE    ARETHUSA. 

" dug-outs"  of  any  considerable  size,  and  the  canoes 
arc  built  of  little  pieces  of  wood,  hundreds  of  pieces  in 
a  single  craft,  holes  being  made  near  the  edges,  and  the 
pieces  lashed  together  with  innumerable  little  "  seiz 
ings,."  a  sort  of  mortar  or  white  cement  is  plastered 
on  to  fill  up  the  numerous  joints,  and  the  still  more 
numerous  little  holes  for  the  lashings.  This  only  par 
tially  answers  the  purpose ;  for  though  the  boats  are 
not  deficient  in  the  qualities  of  speed  and  buoyancy, 
they  are  never  tight,  and  one  man  is  kept  almost  con 
stantly  baling.  The  lashings,  as  well  as  all  their  ropes, 
some  of  considerable  size,  are  ingeniously  twisted  from 
the  fibrous  outside  or  husk  of  the  cocoanut. 

Two  white  men  came  on  board,  one  of  whom  had 
been  here  several  years,  and  had  become  quite  domes 
ticated.  He  seemed  to  have  considerable  influence 
among  the  natives,  and  doubtless  was  as  arrant  a  sav 
age  as  any  of  them  when  on  shore.  This  man  told 
me  that  the  work  of  building  canoes  was  constantly 
going  on  at  their  naval  dockyard,  and  that  he  could 
hardly  perceive  the  progress  made  from  day  to  day ; 
several  months  being  consumed  in  finishing  one  of 
them.  And  no  more  work  is  done  to  them  than  is  ab 
solutely  necessary  to  fit  them  for  service,  for  the  people 
evince  none  of  the  artistic  skill  and  taste  in  orna 
menting  their  vessels,  for  which  many  other  of  the 
Polynesian  tribes  are  noted. 

The  man  whom  I  had  assisted  by  throwing  him  a 
rope,  and  relieving  him  of  a  part  of  his  load,  attached 
himself  particularly  to  me,  and  we  drove  a  smart 
barter  trade,  highly  satisfactory  to  both  parties.  He 


THE  COOPER  "ROMANCES,"  ETC.  207 

soon  gave  me  further  evidence  of  his  powers  of  jaw, 
as,  laughing  at  my  bungling  attempts  to  husk  a 
cocoanut  with  an  axe,  he  seized  the  whole  bunch  of 
nuts,  and  jerked  the  husks  all  off  with  his  teeth,  in 
less  time  than  I  should  have  taken  to  finish  one,  con 
sidering  his  services  amply  rewarded  with  a  morsel 
of  "tabahky."  I  bought  all  his  stock  of  mats,  and 
as  many  of  the  hats  as  I  could  adapt  to  my  very 
accommodating  head,  in  other  words,  all  which  were 
not  more  than  eleven  sizes  too  big  for  me.  The  next 
thing  produced  for  my  inspection  was  a  cocoanut 
shell,  filled  with  a  sort  of  syrup,  into  which  he  run 
his  finger  and  sucked  it  with  infinite  gusto,  at  the 
same  time  tempting  me  to  do  likewise. 

"  Id-id-ee  tikee-moee-moee  !  "  he  yelled. 

"  What  the  devil  is  that  ?  "  said  I. 

"  Tikee-moee-moee  ? "  he  repeated.     "  Tabahky  !  " 

I  found  this  a  very  nice  article,  light  in  color,  clear 
and  thick,  not  unlike  honey.  I  bought  it  eagerly,  and 
gave  my  friend  to  understand  I  would  like  to  have 
more.  In  less  than  ten  minutes  he  had  brought  me 
more  than  a  dozen,  which  I  purchased  at  sight  of  the 
shells,  and  carried  below.  I  discovered  the  next  day 
when  too  late,  that  only  the  first  one  was  worth  eating, 
the  rest  appearing  to  be  about  equally  compounded 
of  very  black  molasses  and  sea-water. 

I  made  my  out-door  agent  understand  that  I  wanted 
to  collect  shells,  showing  him  one  as  a  specimen.  He 
rushed  to  the  side,  shouting  to  his  comrade  in  the 
canoe,  "  Teroot !  "  and  returned  with  a  few  which 
were  not  worth  much.  My  "  wants  "  having  been 


2O8  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

thus  advertised,  I  was  beset  with  cries  of  "  Teroot  !  " 
for  the  next  half-hour  ;  for  every  barbarian  pedler 
who  had  a  beech-worn  shell  or  fragment  of  a  shell 
to  dispose  of,  pushed  it  into  my  face  with  the  same 
war-cry.  I  selected  a  few,  which  I  thought  worthy  to 
be  added  to  my  collection.  But  I  was  by  no  means 
rid  of  the  rest,  after  so  doing  ;  for  I  was  pursued  from 
post  to  pillar,  and  the  same  specimens,  transferred  to 
different  hands,  loomed  before  my  eyes  dozens  of  times, 
with  the  savage  cry  "  Teroot  !  Tabahky  !  " 

"  I'm  sayin',  ould  chap,  what's  the  matter  wid  y'er 
leg  ?  "  said  the  voice  of  Farrell  near  me. 

I  turned  and  saw  an  elderly,  grave  looking  man 
climbing  in  over  the  rail.  As  he  landed  on  deck,  he 
presented  a  singular  phenomenon  ;  having  one  well- 
proportioned  leg  of  the  natural  size,  while  the  other 
one  at  the  calf  would  have  filled  a  deck-bucket. 

"  Say,  ould  chap,  what  ails  y'er  leg  ? "  repeated  the 
Irishman. 

"  Ididee  tikee-nut  ! "  shouted  the  old  man,  holding 
up  over  his  head  a  bunch  of  nuts,  knotted  together  by 
strips  of  the  husk. 

"  Ah  !  the  divil  take  your  tikeenuts,  it's  your  leg 
I'm  looking  at.  Who  ever  saw  the  likes?  " 

"  Tabahky  !  "  roared  the  venerable  savage,  keeping 
an  eye  to  business. 

"  What  made  y'er  leg  swell  that  big  ? "  pursued 
Farrell. 

"  Tikee  moee  moee  !  "  was  the  answer,  in  a  voice  of 
thunder. 

"  An'  sure,  I'll  ate  none  of  it,  if  it  has  that  effect." 


THE    COOPER    "ROMANCES,"    ETC.  2OQ 

"  Why,"  said  the  cooper,  "  don't  you  see,  he's  got 
the  'fay-fay.'  There's  plenty  of  that  disease  on  these 
islands.  There's  a  man  in  that  canoe  under  the  quarter 
there  with  one  of  his  arms  puffed  up  bigger  than  my 
body;  you  can  see  it  wobble  every,  time  he  moves. 
Now,  twig  this  old  gentleman  when  he  walks." 

"  Isn't  it  painful,  do  you  think  ?  "  I  asked. 

"  No,  they  say  not,  after  it's  swelled,  and  set  to  its 
full  size,  for  I  believe  it's  never  cured.  It  is  common 
on  many  islands  in  the  Pacific,  and  at  Rotumah,  par 
ticularly  so.  Most  of  the  white  men  have  it  there, 
that  is,  those  who  have  lived  there  any  length  of 
time.  It  is  caused  by  the  diet,  I  suppose." 

"  Yes,  that's  what  the  ould  chap  tould  me,  'twas  the 
tikeenuts  and  that  swate  trade  stuff  made  it  swell,'' 
said  Farrell . 

"  Mr.  Grafton,  we  must  get  rid  of  these  canoes  now 
as  fast  as  possible.  We  can't  afford  to  drift  any 
more.  Brace  full  the  mainyard  and  down  tacks  !  " 
said,  the  captain.  "They  must  take  care  of  their 
own  canoes." 

This  manoeuvre  produced  some  commotion  among 
the  visitors,  and  scattered  the  greater  part  of  them. 
Some  who  had  not  been  fortunate  enough  to  dispose  of 
all  their  wares,  still  hung  on,  offering  goods  at  very 
low  prices  to  close  out  the  stock. 

"  Keep  cool,  don't  drive  them,"  said  the  mate. 
"  I'll  get  clear  of  them  all,  in  a  minute." 

He  went  down  below,  and  soon  returned  with  a 
musket,  which  he  pointed  in  the  air  over  their  heads, 
and  pulled  the  trigger.  A  stampede  ensued,  and  a 

14 


2IO  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

rapid  succession  of  plunges  overboard  as  well  as  into 
the  canoes,  soon  cleared  the  deck  of  all  the  frightened 
savages  ;  and  the  fleet  were  soon  standing  in  for  the 
land,  presenting  a  picturesque  and  beautiful  view,  as 
the  declining  sun  shone  upon  the  numerous  triangular 
sails  and  flashing  paddles  ;  while  we  hugged  the  wind 
under  all  sail  to  hold  our  weather  position. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 


KINGSMILL'S   GROUP. — SINGULAR  WHALING  INCIDENT. 

HARD    AND    FAST. A    PERILOUS    POSITION. 


WE  now  made  our  cruising-ground  for  a  time  among 
the  islands  of  KingsmnTs  group,  setting  the  starboard 
and  larboard  watches  again,  as  it  was  necessary  to 
keep  sail  on  the  ship  day  and  night,  to  avoid  drifting 
off  the  ground  altogether.  This  necessity  is  owing 
not  only  to  the  prevalence  of  the  trade  wind  which 
blows  in  the  same  general  direction  at  all  times,  ex 
cept  when  replaced  for  very  short  periods  by  the 
"  westerly  monsoons,"  so  called  ;  but  also  to  a  current, 
varying  more  or  less  in  force,  which  sets  to  the  west 
ward  all  through  this  chain  of  islands.  These  circum 
stances,  in  connection  with  the  low  and  dangerous 
character  of  some  of  the  islets,  as  well  as  their  uncer 
tain  position  on  the  charts,  demanded  great  vigilance 
in  the  night  watches,  and  the  strictest  orders  were 
given  to  the  officers  in  this  particular. 

The  scenes  at  Byron's  Island  were  repeated  at 
others  with  little  variation  in  general  outline  ;  for, 
almost  as  soon  as  land  was  seen,  the  triangular  sails 
would  also  make  their  appearance  ;  and  but  few  days 
passed  without  communication  and  traffic  with  some 
of  them.  I  soon  learned  to  judge  of  the  age  of  a 


212  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

cocoanut  before  buying  it,  for,  as  there  is  but  one  step 
from  the  sublime  to  the  ridiculous,  so  it  requires  but 
a  short  stage  in  the  growth  of  the  nut  to  change  the 
milk  from  Olympian  nectar  into  the  most  insipid 
slops  ;  while  I  was  careful  not  to  rush  blindly  into 
tikce  moee-moee  speculations  without  investigating  the 
matter  to  the  very  bottom.  My  little  stock  of  rarities 
in  conchology  was  much  augmented  by  small  additions 
made  at  various  times  ;  and  I  had  rather  more  hats, 
as  well  as  bigger  ones,  hung  up  in  my  bunk,  than  the 
Arethusa  had  in  her  slopchest  ;  for  some  of  my  first 
purchases  in  this  line  would  have  set  loosely  on  Daniel 
Lambert. 

These  little  episodes,  interspersed  with  the  excite 
ment  of  whaling  adventures,  served  effectually  to 
break  the  monotony  of  a  long  cruise  at  sea,  and  to 
make  the  time  pass  quickly  and  pleasantly.  Sperm 
whales  are  frequently  seen,  and  we  were  successful, 
as  a  general  thing,  in  taking  them.  The  whales  here 
ran  small  in  size  ;  the  cows  seldom  yielding  above 
twenty  barrels,  oftener  fifteen  or  sixteen.  Now  and 
then  a  school  would  be  met  with,  accompanied  by 
one  old  eighty-barrel  patriarch,  or  schoolmaster,  as 
he  might  be  not  inaptly  termed.  Of  course,  our 
principal  efforts  were  directed  to  capturing  this  fel 
low,  if  possible.  In  one  instance,  we  succeeded  quite 
unexpectedly,  and  in  a  very  singular  manner. 

We  lowered  in  pursuit  of  a  school  of  small  whales, 
no  large  one  having  been  seen  among  them  before 
we  left  the  ship.  The  whales  in  some  way  took  the 
alarm  before  we  got  up  to  them,  and  when  the  mate 


KINGSMILL  S    GROUP,    ETC.  213 

called  me  up,  they  had  all  gone  down  but  one  cow 
with  a  small  calf.  I  drew  back  my  iron  for  a  dart, 
but  the  cow  had  already  pitched,  and  was  too  far  from 
me  to  make  a  safe  thing  of  it.  "  Strike  the  calf  ! " 
said  Mr.  Grafton  ;  and,  with  a  twinge  of  conscience 
at  the  cruelty  of  the  deed,  I  threw  an  iron  at  the  infant 
whale,  who  seemed  hardly  able  to  carry  it  off  in  his 
back.  However,  down  he  went,  and  we  gave  him 
line  freely,  as  we  were  fearful  of  drawing  the  iron- 
We  felt  pretty  sure  that  when  he  rose  again,  we 
should  have  a  chance  at  the  mother  ;  and  that  chance 
was  good  of  the  rest  of  the  school  "  bringing  to."  In 
such  a  case,  we  might  get  a  good  "  cut "  of  oil,  by 
striking  a  whale  which,  alone,  was  of  little  or  no  value. 
He  had  "  sounded  out "  forty  or  fifty  fathoms  of  line, 
when  the  strain  suddenly  relaxed,  and  the  line  hung 
slack.  "  We  are  loose  !  "  cried  the  mate,  "  haul  in 
line  !  "  then  shouted  to  the  .other  two  boats,  who  were 
hovering  near  us,  to  "  Pull  ahead !  "  They  sprang 
to  their  oars  to  take  the  next  chance  at  the  school 
when  they  should  rise,  while  we  gathered  in  our  stray 
line  quite  leisurely.  Presently  our  line  seemed  to  be 
foul  of  something,  which  offered  a  strange  kind  of 
resistance  to  our  efforts  ;  it  did  not  bring  up  firmly, 
but  seemed  to  be  grating  or  chafing  against  something, 
so  that  we  still  gained  on  it,  though  making  slow 
progress. 

"  What  can  be  the  matter  ?"  I  asked. 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  Father  Grafton.  "  I  can't  ac 
count  for  the  line  acting  this  way."  Just  then  there 
was  another  heavy  surge  upon  it,  then  that  peculiar 


214  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

grating  and  slipping,  and  we  got  in  two  or  three 
more  fathoms  of  it.  "  Something  is  uncer  us,"  said 
he.  "  Slack  line  and  stand  by  your  oars  !  " 

We  slacked  away  and  sterned  off  a  little.  Pres 
ently  there  was  a  commotion  and  lifting  of  the  sea 
as  it  were,  close  ahead  of  us,  and  with  a  roar  as  he 
broke  water,  the  ponderous  "  junk  "  of  a  "  ninety- 
barreller"  was  forced  up  into  view  ;  he  straightened, 
showing  us  his  vast  breadth  of  beam,  and  then  with 
a  thundering  flap  of  his  immense  flukes  upon  the  water, 
which  half-drowned  us  all  in  the  spray,  he  started  to 
windward,  towing  us  after  him  !  Astonishment  held 
us  all  mute  for  a  moment,  but  the  mate,  seeing-  that 
he  was  fairly  "  harnessed,"  soon  recovered  his  usual 
coolness. 

"  Clear  away  my  lance  ! "  said  he  to  the  bowman, 
as  he  placed  the  second  iron  in  the  crotch  ready  for 
darting.  "  We're  fast  to  him,  Blacksmith,  but  how, 
the  Lord  knows,  /don't.  If  that's  the  whale  that  you 
struck,  he  has  grown  out  of  all  knowledge  within  a 
quarter  of  an  hour  ! " 

The  old  man  and  second  mate  were  coming  to  the 
rescue,  having  soon  perceived  the  state  of  affairs. 
They  were  as  much  puzzled,  of  course,  as  we  were  ; 
but,  if  we  had  hooked  to  the  schoolmaster,  that  was 
enough  for  the  present.  The  second  boat  was  soon 
fast,  and  when  we  hauled  up  to  lance,  the  mystery 
was  explained.  The  large  whale  had  fouled  the  line 
with  his  lower  jaw,  and  the  strain  had  drawn  the  iron 
from  the  little  one.  The  monster  in  his  struggles  had 
rolled  over  and  we  had  been  hauling  the  line  across  his 


KINGSMJLL'S  GROUP,  ETC.  215 

jaw,  till  we  had  got  the  slack  all  in,  and  the  harpoon 
and  pole  had  formed  a  toggil  across  his  "  jole  "  at  the 
corner  of  his  mouth.  In  an  hour's  time  we  hauled 
him  alongside  the  ship,  well  pleased  with  the  exchange 
we  had  involuntarily  made  of  a  calf  for  a  full-grown 
bull. 

We  had  cruised  this  ground  over,  working  down  to 
leeward  of  Ocean  and  Pleasant  Islands,  which  lie 
somewhat  detached  from  the  main  cluster  of  the 
group,  and,  then  taking  the  advantage  of  a  westerly 
monsoon,  which  brought  us  back  to  Byron's  Island, 
we  cruised  it  all  over  again.  We  had  taken  about  six 
hundred  barrels  of  sperm  oil,  and  it  was  nearly  time 
for  us  to  be  making  a  port,  as  we  intended  to  take  the 
next  season  "  on  Japan." 

We  had  been  in  sight  of  one  of  the  islands  one 
afternoon,  and  several  canoes  came  off  for  a  short 
time,  but  the  weather  had  been  overcast  and  rainy, 
and  we  had  no  observations  of  the  sun ;  and  as  we 
had  but  an  indifferent  one  the  day  before,  we  were  in 
doubt  from  what  island  the  canoes  came.  We  knew 
we  must  be  somewhere  in  the  vicinity  of  Simpson's 
and  Henderville's  Islands.  The  wind  was  light  th<! 
first  part  of  the  night,  and  we  stood  on  the  southern 
tack  till  midnight,  when  we  wore  ship,  and  headed 
back  to  the  northward.  This  was  done  in  our  watch, 
and  when  we  went  below  at  three  in  the  morning,  it 
was  cloudy  weather  with  light  rain  squalls.  Nothing 
had  been  seen ;  the  wind  was  light  and  the  sea  un 
usually  smooth,  as  it  seemed  to  us,  indicating  that  we 
were  under  the  lea  of  one  of  the  islands.  The  second 


2l6  THE    LOG    OF    THE   ARETHUSA. 

mate  was  cautioned  to  keep  a  good  lookout  ahead  and 
off  the  lee  bow,  and  we  went  below,  feeling  no  uneasi 
ness  as  it  would  be  daylight  in  an  hour.  The  captain 
had  been  on  deck  at  about  two,  and  he  thought  from 
appearances  and  from  the  strength  of  the  current, 
that  we  must  be  to  the  westward  of  our  reckoning,  and 
now  under  the  lee  of  Woodle's  Island,  and,  if  so,  we 
had  sea-room  enough  for  the  present. 

The  heat  kept  me  awake  for  some  time  after  I 
turned  in,  or  rather  lay  down  on  my  chest-lid,  for  I 
could  not  endure  the  temperature  in  the  bunk,  and 
the  weather  was  too  damp  to  take  my  jacket  and  pil 
low  on  deck,  or  into  one  of  the  quarter-boats  as  I  was 
in  the  habit  of  doing  when  it  was  fine  and  dry.  I 
could  hear  Mr.  Dunham  and  Fisher  moving  about 
and  talking  over  me,  for  a  short  time  ;  then  all  was 
still,  and  overcome  by  drowsiness  I  fell  asleep. 

A  trembling  movement  of  the  ship  with  a  grinding 
sound  beneath  me  brought  my  feet  to  the  floor  with  a 
bound  ;  my  trousers  and  hat  were  seized  at  the  same 
instant,  and  the  mate,  Mr.  Bunker,  and  myself  reached 
the  deck  all  at  once,  crowding  each  other  on  the  stairs. 
The  captain  was  already  there.  None  of  us  asked 
another  what  was  the  matter  ;  we  seemed  to  wake 
with  an  instinctive  understanding  of  the  whole  truth 
in  its  painful  aggregate  ;  and  our  first  glances  around 
were  merely  to  take  in  the  details  of  the  situation. 

Cocoanut  trees  were  looming  on  the  starboard  bow, 
seeming  in  the  gray  light  to  overhang  the  ship,  and 
gradually  receding  along  the  beam  and  quarter,  as  the 
land  trended  to  the  south-east.  All  was  clear  blue 


KINGSMILLS    GROUP,    ETC.  2 1/ 

water  off  the  lee  bow,  but  day  had  broken,  and  a  line  of 
cocoanut  trees  against  the  western  skies  indicated  an 
other  island  within  a  few  miles  off  the  lee  beam.  We 
had  run  on  the  lee  end  of  one  of  the  islands,  for  the 
line  of  the  reef,  as  marked  by  the  color  of  the  water, 
was  only  one  point  off  the  port  bow.  A  quarter  of  a 
mile  more  off  would  have  carried  us  all  clear,  and  into 
the  channel  between  the  two.  The  wind  was  very 
light,  and  partially  embayed  as  we  were  it  was  so 
smooth  that  there  was  little  or  no  breaker  near  the 
ship,  and  she  scarcely  moved  after  the  first  shock  of 
running  on  the  reef. 

I  had  taken  these  few  hasty  notes  while  we  were 
hauling  everything  in  aback,with  the  hope  of  forcing  her 
astern,  but  the  power  of  her  sails  was  not  sufficient 
with  so  light  a  breeze.  The  pumps  were  tried,  but 
showed  no  leak,  and  the  hand  lead  was  passed  along 
for  sounding.  No  questions  were  asked,  no  fault  found, 
though  we  all  understood  well  enough  how  it  hap 
pened.  As  I  have  before  intimated,  the  second  mate, 
though  so  good  an  officer  in  all  other  respects,  had 
the  fatal  weakness  of  falling  to  sleep  at  his  post.  I 
knew  as  well  as  if  I  had  seen  it  myself,  that  after  stirring 
about  a  short  time  and  setting  a  lookout,  he  had  sat 
down  and  dropped  off  into  the  land  of  Nod.  Of  course, 
if  the  officer  of  the  deck  sleeps,  all  the  rest  will  be  likely 
to  follow  his  example;  Jack  not  being  disposed  to 
take  upon  himself  any  cares  for  which  an  other  is  bet 
ter  paid.  I  have  no  doubt  to  this  day,  that,  at  "the 
moment  the  ship  struck,  every  man  was  asleep,  both 
above  and  below  deck,  but  the  captain,  who  was  just 
coming  up  the  stairs. 


2l8  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

The  hand  lead  gave  eight  feet  of  water  under  the 
bow  on  the  starboard  side.  From  this  depth  it  was 
evident  the  reef  rose  abruptly  ;  as,  ten  feet  ahead  of 
us  the  rock  was  dry  and  our  martingale  was  almost 
touching  it.  Under  the  larboard  bow  we  got  ten  feet, 
and  a  boat's  length  from  the  ship  the  lead  indicated 
five  fathoms.  The  kedge  anchor  was  being  prepared 
for  service,  for  we  could  hear  the  voices  of  natives  on 
the  beach,  and  doubtless  the  canoes  would  surround 
us  as  soon  as  daylight  should  arrive,  and-  the  alarm  be 
spread  ;  so  that  whatever  was  to  be  done  must  be  done 
soon  or  we  should  have  to  fight  an  army  of  hostile 
savages.  But  soundings  taken  thirty  yards  from  the 
ship  gave  sixty  fathoms  off  the  port  bow,  and  at  fifty 
yards  distance  no  bottom  was  reached  with  a  hundred 
and  fifty  fathoms.  No  kedging  could  be  done  in  that 
direction  to  swing  her  bow  off.  We  sent  the  boat 
astern  with  no  better  success.  The  deep  sea  line  failed 
to  find  any  bottom,  and  it  was  evident  the  ship  hung 
by  her  bow  only,  on  the  very  angle  of  a  reef  which 
rose  boldly  from  the  depths  of  the  ocean.  Under  the 
forechains  we  had  fourteen  feet,  which  was  enough  to 
have  floated  the  ship.  We  had  the  satisfaction  of 
knowing  that  a  pull  of  a  couple  of  fathoms  in  either  of 
two  directions  would  place  her  in  her  native  element, 
but  how  were  we  to  get  it  ?  Our  kedge  anchor  was 
useless,  owing  to  the  great  depth  of  water  on  the  off 
side  and  astern  of  us.  A  strong  breeze  acting  upon 
the  head  sails  thrown  aback  would  probably  have  done 
the  work  for  us. 

Daylight,  while  it  gave  us  a  clear  view  of  our  posi- 


KINGMILLS  S    GROUP,    ETC.  2IQ 

tion,  also  brought  new  dangers,  for  several  canoes 
were  already  hovering  near,  and  others  could  be  seen 
shoving  out  all  along  the  beach.  We  could  see  that 
the  men  were  all  armed,  and  that  no  women  were  in 
any  of  the  canoes.  This  was  sufficient  evidence  that 
they  meant  mischief,  and  would  venture  an  attack 
upon  us  in  our  crippled  position,  which  they  would 
not  dare  make  if  we  were  under  way.  However,  we 
knew  their  wholesome  dread  of  fire-arms,  and  trusted 
to  be  able  to  keep  them  at  bay,  if  we  could  contrive 
any  purchase  to  haul  the  ship  off  the  ledge.  But  one 
way  of  doing  this  presented  itself ;  and  we  at  once 
set  about  the  necessary  preparations  for  availing  our 
selves  of  it. 

About  two  hundred  yards  from  us,  in  a  line  nearly 
astern,  a  point  or  projection  of  the  coral  reef  made 
out  in  a  south-west  direction,  the  rock  being  but  little 
more  than  dry  at  high  water ;  and  in  the  scanty  soil 
on  this  point,  three  cocoanut  trees  had  firmly  rooted 
themselves,  one  of  them  inclining  so  much  seaward, 
that  its  lofty  tuft  of  branches  must  have  almost  brushed 
the  sails  of  the  ship  as  she  passed  in  by  it.  If  a  line 
could  be  carried  to  these  trees,  and  brought  in  at  the 
taffrail  to  the  capstan  or  windlass,  we  could  heave 
the  ship  off,  without  doubt ;'  but  the  undertaking  in 
volved  considerable  risk.  The  two  cutting  falls  were 
unrove  from  the  blocks  and  connected  by  a  bend, 
which  formed  a  rope  long  enough  for  our  purpose, 
and  of  sufficient  strength  to  bear  all  the  strain  that 
we  should  want  to  heave.  This  was  all  placed  in  one 
boat,  in  two  large  coils  well  spread  out  on  top  of  the 


22O  THE    LOG   OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

thwarts.  Only  one  man  was  to  go  in  this  boat,  at  the 
steering  oar,  and  the  position  was  assigned  to  me. 
The  other  two  boats  were  lowered,  and  manned  with 
full  crews,  the  second  and  third  mates  being  placed  in 
command.  All  the  fire-arms  had  in  the  mean  time 
been  loaded,  six-pounder  and  all  ;  and  most  of  the 
muskets  were  distributed  in  the  boats,  as  there  was  no 
fear  of  the  savages  making  an  attack  on  the  ship  at 
present.  They  would  wait  to  concentrate  all  their 
fighting  force  before  doing  so. 

When  we  had  completed  our  preparations  there 
were  not  more  than  twenty  canoes  assembled,  aver 
aging  about  five  men  to  each  ;  and  these  were,  thus 
far,  acting  only  as  a  squadron  of  observation  ;  but  two 
had  made  their  appearance  ahead  of  the  ship  coming 
round  the  end  of  the  reef,  being  the  advance  guard  of 
another  fleet  from  the  north  side  of  the  island,  while 
the  number  of  triangular  sails  momentarily  increas 
ing  off  the  lee  beam  and  quarter  promised  large  rein 
forcements  from  the  other  island.  It  was  low  tide 
when  the  ship  ran  ashore,  and  the  flood  was  now  begin- 
ing  to  make  ;  a  couple  of  hours  would,  doubtless,  give 
us  water  enough  to  haul  her  off. 

The  second  mate's  boat,  pulled  in  advance,  towing 
the  boat  in  which  I  was  steering,  loaded  with  the 
hawser.  Mr.  Bunker,  with  the  third  boat,  followed 
close  in  my  wake,  as  rear  guard,  carrying  the  end  of 
a  light  whale  line  which  was  paid  out  from  the  ship. 
The  six-pounder  was  trained  for  a  covering  fire,  but 
no  fire-arms  were  to  be  used,  nor  any  violence  offered, 
except  in  case  of  the  last  necessity.  The  natives  in 


KINGSMILL'S  GROUP,  ETC.  221 

the  canoes  intently  watched  our  movements,  paddling 
a  little  towards  us,  but  resting  again,  as  they  saw  the 
number  of  muskets  in  the  two  boats.  They,  of  course, 
understood  our  manoeuvre,  but  to  oppose  our  landing 
would  involve  more  risk  from  the  guns  than  they 
cared  to  run.  Thus  holding  them  in  awe,  the  opera 
tion  was  performed  without  a  shot,  the  first  boat  only 
being  beached.  The  crew  jumped  out,  pulled  the  end 
of  the  hawser  ashore  by  a  piece  of  small  line,  hitched 
it  securely  round  two  trees  which  grew  close  together, 
while  the  end  of  the  whale  line  was  being  bent  to  the 
other  end  of  the  coil ;  a  wave  of  my  hat  gave  the  sig 
nal  to  "  haul  away  ! "  I  laid  the  boat  round,  was  taken 
in  tow  by  the  third  mate,  and  we  returned  to  the  ship 
paying  out  the  hawser  from  both  coils  at  once. 

When  about  midway  between  the  shore  and  the 
ship,  having  paid  all  out  and  thrown  the  bight  clear  of 
the  boat,  I  was  startled  by  a  man  under  water  swimming 
towards  the  hawser.  I  called  to  Mr.  Bunker  to  "  heave 
up,"  for  it  instantly  occurred  to  me  what  his  purpose 
was.  He  was  nearly  under  the  head  of  my  boat,  and 
gradually  rising  towards  the  surface  as  he  approached 
his  object.  My  boat-spade,  keen  as  a  razor,  with  a 
light  warp  attached  to  it,  lay  convenient  to  my  hand. 
I  seized  it  with  a  nervous  grasp,  feeling  that  it  had 
fallen  to  my  duty  to  shed  the  first  blood  in  this  affair. 
The  savage  was  coming  up  ;  already  his  arm  was  out 
stretched  to  grasp  the  hawser.  I  could  see  a  knife 
gleaming  in  his  other  hand.  My  spade  descended 
with  careful  aim  upon  his  right  arm,  his  ugly  head 
rose  to  the  surface  in  a  pool  of  blood,  and  with  an 


222  THE    LOG   OF   THE    ARETHUSA. 

unearthly  yell  he  struck  out  with  one  arm  towards 
the  canoes,  holding  aloft  the  stump  of  the  other,  cut 
clear  off  between  the  shoulder  and  the  elbow  ! 

The  hawser  was  safe  for  the  present ;  another  min 
ute  and  it  was  hauled  taut  and  taken  to  the  windlass, 
the  tension  bringing  it  above  the  surface.  A  boat's 
crew,  well  armed,  remained  on  the  point  to  protect 
that  end  ;  and  in  order  to  divide  it  at  any  point,  the 
person  attempting  it  must  raise  his  head  out  of  water 
and  expose  himself  to  almost  certain  death  ;  for  keen 
eyes  were  sighting  loaded  muskets  both  from  the  taff- 
rail  and  the  beach.  We  hove  a  severe  strain  at  the 
windlass,  but  it  was  evident  we  could  not  start  her  yet; 
we  must  wait  the  rise  of  the  tide,  and,  in  the  mean 
time,  our  chief  attention  must  be  devoted  to  the  pro 
tection  of  our  hawser.  If  our  enemies  could  divide 
this,  they  would  gain  time  and  assemble  a  large  force 
so  as  to  overpower  and  massacre  the  whole  of  us. 
The  division  from  the  north  side  of  the  island  were 
apparently  all  in  sight  now,  and  were  forming  a  junc 
tion  with  their  comrades,  the  whole  force  amounting 
to  about  forty  canoes  with  two  hundred  fighting 
men,  their  arms  being  clubs  and  spears  of  wood,  set 
thickly  with  rows  of  shark's  teeth.  We  made  no  at 
tempt  to  prevent  the  junction  of  the  two  fleets,  for  we 
did  not  mean  to  waste  a  charge  of  powder,  but  reserve 
it  for  an  emergency.  If  we  could  protect  our  hawser  and 
get  another  hour  or  two  of  flood  tide,  we  did  not  fear  a 
legion  of  them  when  under  way ;  and  this  we  hoped 
to  effect  before  the  arrival  of  the  fleet  from  Woodle's 
island,  which  numbered  some  thirty  canoes  more. 


KINGSMILL'S    GROUP,    ETC.  223 

The  women  and  children  of  the  island,  with  a  few 
old  men  whose  fighting  days  were  gone  by,  had  all  as 
sembled  on  the  beach  at  a  short  distance  from  the  ship, 
anxiously  waiting  the  progress  of  events.  They  kept 
up  a  terrible  yelling  and  shouting  to  the  warriors  in 
the  canoes,  apparently  urging  them  on  to  attack  us. 
After  a  time,  becoming  emboldened  by  impunity,  a 
party  of  them  ran  down  on  the  rocks  ahead  of  the 
ship,  and  saluted  us  with  a  volley  of  stones,  some  of 
which  came  in  over  the  bows,  falling  among  us.  To 
get  rid  of  this  annoyance  the  six-pounder,  with  only  a 
charge  of  powder  and  wad  was  now  trained  in  that 
direction  and  fired  over  their  heads.  The  effect  was 
all  we  could  have  desired  ;  the  rabble  retreated  to 
what  they  considered  a  safe  distance,  and  ventured  no 
more  within  range. 

From  time  to  time  we  tried  a  little  additional  strain 
on  the  hawser,  and  at  length  had  the  satisfaction  of 
feeling  the  ship  tremble  and  waver  a  little  under  our 
efforts.  On  sounding  now  we  found  thirteen  feet  as 
far  forward  as  the  fore-swifter,  and  it  was  evident  we 
hung  by  only  a  few  feet  of  the  keel  from  the  cutwater 
aft. 

"  The  hawser  does  not  pull  in  the  direction  that  we 
could  wish  it  did,"  said  the  old  man,  now  in  consulation 
with  the  mate  at  the  taffrail.  "  It'll  pull  her  off  without 
doubt  if  we  can  wait  half  an  hour  or  more.  But  in 
that  time,  those  devils  will  get  Here  from  Woodle's, 
and  we  shall  be  surrounded  with  enemies.  Besides,  I 
am  getting  anxious  about  Mr.  Dunham  and  his  crew, 
who  are  held  at  bay  there  on  the  point.  You  see,  the 


224  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

hawser  pulls  rather  too  much  to  seaward  and  grinds 
her  starboard  bow  hard  against  the  ledge.  I  think  by 
the  feeling  of  her,  that  if  that  could  be  slacked  up 
suddenly  her  stern  would  swing  in,  and  perhaps  she 
might  slide  off  sideways." 

"  I  think  so  too,"  said  Mr.  Grafton.  "  But  it's  a 
ticklish  thing,  because,  as  soon  as  that  hawser  is  slack 
ed  into  the  water,  they'll  make  an  attempt  to  cut  it,  if 
they've  got  another  knife  among  them,  which  is  doubt 
ful.  It  would  be  bungling  work  cutting  it  with  any  of 
their  own  instruments." 

"We  must  risk  it,  at  any  rate,"  said  the  old  man, 
after  considering  a  moment.  "  Those  canoes  will  be 
here  in  a  few  minutes,  and  then  we  shall  have  a  gen 
eral  attack.  We'll  try  it,  and  if  she  does  not  swing  as 
we  expect  we'll  heave  right  in  again,  and  wait  the  tide 
as  we  have  been  doing.  Stand  by  to  come  up  that 
hawser  at  the  windlass  !  Sharp  eyes  out  now  at  the 
taffrail !  Keep  your  guns  ready,  and  if  you  see  a  head 
come  up  near  that  hawser,  dont  miss  him  /" 

He  waved  his  hand  to  the  windlass  bits  ;  the  fall 
"  rendered  "  round  the  barrel  with  a  heavy  surge,  and 
the  ship  swung,  as  he  had  expected.  Her  stern  trended 
in  shore  till  she  was  about  half  broadside  on ;  and  her 
bow,  sliding  and  grinding  on  the  rocks,  forced  itself 
partly  off,  but  hung  again,  now  without  motion. 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 

OFF  THE  ROCKS  AGAIN. A  BAD  LEAK. ANECDOTES. 

THE  RUN  TO  THE  CAROLINE  ISLANDS. 

"  WE  shall  have  to  heave  taut  again,  Mr.  Graftonr 
and  give  her  another  swing,"  said  the  old  man.  "  O, 
if  we  only  had  another  hawser  to  hold  her  stern 
where  it  is,  and  take  this  one  in  on  the  port  bow  !  But 
I  don't  like  to  risk  her  to  swing  broadside  on." 

At  this  moment  a  hand  grasping  a  knife  emerged 
from  the  water,  near  the  middle  of  the  hawser,  and 
a  shaggy  head  rose  partly  above  the  surface.  Five  or 
six  muskets  cracked  simultaneously  both  from  the  ship 
and  shore.  The  head  and  arm  disappeared,  and  the 
water  was  discolored  where  they  went  down.  An 
other  savage  had  met  the  reward  of  his  rashness  and 
the  hawser  was  saved  again. 

"  They  wont  try  that  move  again  right  away,"  said 
the  old  man,  coolly.  "But  those  canoes  are  almost 
here  and  I  am  fearful  for  those  men  who  are  on  the 
point,  guarding  the  shore  end  of  the  hawser.  There 
she  slips  a  little !  Do  you  feel  that,  Mr.  Grafton  ? 
We  must  risk  it.  Come  up  the  hawser  all  together  ! 
Lay  aft  here,  every  man  !  Take  the  bight  round  out 
side  and  lead  in  on  the  port  bow !  Lively,  men ! 
You're  working  for  your  lives  !  " 

We  knew  it,  and  needed  no  urging  •  the  bcnvy  rope 

15  MS 


225  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

was  passed  swiftly  from  hand  to  hand,  and  brought 
in  forward  to  the  fore-rigging ;  a  turn  was  thrown 
round  the  windlass  and  the  brakes  were  instantly  in 
motion.  As  she  lay  now,  this  was  the  very  pull  she 
wanted.  Hardly  had  we  brought  a  strain  when  she 
began  to  slide  and  rumble  under  us,  and  a  wild  hurrah 
burst  from  all  our  lips  as  she  settled  into  her  element, 
and  her  head  paid  briskly  off,  under  the  power  of  her 
foretopsail.  But  as  she  did  so,  her  stern  swung  in 
violently,  and  a  projecting  spur  of  the  rock  beneath 
the  water  met  her  under  the  counter,  with  a  kind  of 
dull,  cracking  sound  that  came  ominously  to  our 
ears. 

We  could  not  stop  to  think  of  this  now.  We  look 
ed  astern  ;  Mr.  Dunham  was  coming  !  He  had  already 
cut  the  ha\yser  at  the  shore  end,  and  his  crew  were 
pulling  the  boat  off  by  it,  hand  over  hand,  while  he  and 
Fisher  stood  with  muskets  keeping  their  foes  at  bay  ; 
for,  maddened  with  rage  and  disappointment,  they 
were  now  beginning  to  close  in  upon  him. 

"Brace  round  the  yards!"  roared  the  captain. 
"  Steady  !  meet  her  with  the  helm  !  Keep  her  right 
in  the  channel !  All  the  muskets  here  now,  and  open 
a  covering  fire  for  this  boat !  Pull  boys  !  pull  !  We'll 
have  you  all  safe  in  another  minute ! " 

We  no  longer  thought  of  saving  powder,  but  fired 
away  among  the  thickest  of  them.  A  dozen  of  them 
were  killed  or  wounded  and  they  soon  found  the  work 
too  hot.  They  hauled  off  with  hideous  yells,  and  we 
took  all  our  men  safely  on  board,  though  Fisher  had 
a  bad  cut  from  one  of  the  serrated  spears,  and  the 


OFF    THE    ROCKS    AGAIN,    ETC.  22/ 

second  mate  and  young  Black  Hawk  were  both  se 
verely  wounded  by  stones,  which  had  been  hurled  in 
great  numbers  from  the  canoes,  when  they  closed  up 
around  the  boat. 

"Is  that  gun  loaded  with  ball  ? "  asked  the  old 
man. 

"  Ay,  ay,  sir  !  "  responded  Mr.  Grafton.  "  Say  the 
word!" 

"  Luff  hard,  there ! "  said  the  captain.  "  Let  her 
come  up  and  shiver!  Stand  by,  now,  when  she  bears 
right — fire  !  Hard  up,  and  keep  full ! " 

The  old  "  persuader  "  did  her  work  as  effectually  as 
at  Dominica.  Two  canoes  were  struck  by  the  discharge, 
and  the  yells  that  rose  from  the  terrified  barbarians, 
now  joined  by  the  advance  division  of  the  Woodle's 
Island  fleet,  rang  in  our  ears,  but  with  no  terrors  for 
us,  now  that  we  were  fairly  standing  seaward. 

"Try  the  pumps,  now,  Mr.  Grafton,  while  I  look 
after  these  wounded  men,"  said  the  captain.  "  I'm 
afraid  we  may  have  started  a  leak,  under  the  counter, 
but  I  hope  not  a  very  bad  one." 

The  first  strokes  of  the  pump  told  us  that  his  fears 
were  not  without  good  foundation.  The  water  gushed 
from  the  scuppers,  bright  and  clean  ! 

"  Get  me  a  dry  ropeyarn,"  said  Father  Grafton, 
quietly.  "  Draw  the  boxes,  and  let's  sound  the  well." 

A  plummet  was  soon  extemporized,  and  lowered  into 
the  pump-well.  It  was  drawn  carefully  up  again.  O, 
how  anxiously  all  eyes  were  riveted  upon  it,  as  with 
suspended  breath  we  awaited  the  mate's  words. 
"  Twenty-five  inches." 


228  THE    LOG   OF   THE    ARETHUSA. 

"  That's  not  so  bad  as  it  might  be,"  he  said  cheerfully. 
"  It's  some  time  since  she  struck  there.  Rig  the  other 
pump  and  man  them  both  ! " 

We  kept  both  pumps  going  fast  and  strong  till  they 
sucked.  We  then  timed  her,  and  when  we  pumped  her 
again,  we  made  the  leak  about  fifteen  hundred  strokes 
an  hour. 

"  That  will  keep  us  pretty  busy  pumping,"  said  the 
old  man,  "  until  we  get  in  somewhere  where  we  can 
stop  it.  However,  we  may  thank  God  we  came  off  as 
well  as  we  did.  We  can  keep  the  leak  under  till  we 
reach  one  of  the  Carolines,  and  as  for  the  three  men, 
I  don't  consider  either  of  them  wounded  seriously, 
though  they  may  be  disabled  from  duty  for  some 
days.  We'll  break  out  in  the  starboard  side  of  the  run 
this  afternoon,  and  see  if  we  can  make  any  discov 
eries." 

We  broke  out,  accordingly,  and  judging  by  the 
sound,  where  the  leak  was,  we  cut  out  a  piece  of  the 
ceiling.  We  found  a  place  crushed  in  two  planks  in 
width,  the  broken  wood  still  remaining,  though  much 
shattered,  and  forced  out  of  its  place.  With  a  "  foth- 
ering"  of  canvas  and  oakum,  and  some  boards  nailed  to 
the  timbers  to  hold  all  in  place,  we  reduced  the  leak 
considerably.  This  was  all  that  could  be  done  to  it  from 
the  inside,  but  we  were  satisfied  that  we  could  get  at 
it,  by  careening  the  ship  in  a  smooth  harbor,  and 
repair  it,  as  we  did  the  former  leak  at  Hanayapa;  as 
the  timbers  did  not  appear  to  be  materially  injured. 
We  timed  her  again  in  our  watch  that  night,  and 
found  we  pumped  only  about  nine  hundred  strokes 
an  hour. 


OFF    THE   ROCKS    AGAIN,    ETC.  22Q 

"  Well,"  said  Father  Grafton,  "  that's  much  better 
than  fifteen  hundred,  for  it's  a  kind  of  labor  that  sea 
men  abominate,  and  no  wonder  at  it.  There's  a 
sameness  about  it  that  is  not  at  all  agreeable.  I  must 
say  that  I  dislike  such  jobs  as  pumping,  sawing  wood, 
and  turning  grindstones." 

Of  course  I  agreed  with  him  entirely  in  this  an 
tipathy. 

"  I  don't  think,"  continued  the  mate,  "  that  there 
is  any  other  leak  in  her  beside  that  one  under  the 
counter.  It's  likely  that  the  copper  and  sheathing 
are  much  torn  up  under  the  bows,  but  the  ledge  ap 
peared  to  be  pretty  smooth,  and  the  pumps  threw 
no  water,  up  to  just  before  the  time  we  hauled  her 
afloat." 

"  I  suppose,"  said  I,  "  the  cooper  will  admit  now 
that  she  leaks  enough  to  keep  her  sweet.  Ah  !  here 
he  is,  on  deck,  and  his  pipe  loaded,  too.  Say,  Coop 
er,  have  you  seen  any  flying  fish  come  from  the  pump 
yet;" 

"  No,"  answered  the  cooper,  gruffly.  "  She  don't 
leak  much,  now,  that  is,  comparatively  speaking. 
She's  tight,  compared  to  the  old  Harbinger.  But  we 
didn't  mind  it  20  much  in  those  days,  as  we  should 
now." 

"  No,  that's  true,"  said  the  mate,  "  and,  to  go  twen 
ty  or  thirty  years  still  further  back,  they  minded  it 
still  less,  and  seemed  to  look  upon  pumping  as  a  mat 
ter  of  course,  a  part  of  the  regular  routine  of  ship's 
duty.  I  recollect  a  case  in  point.  When  I  was  a  young 
fellow,  I  happened  to  be  present  in  court  when  a  case 


230  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

was  being  tried  involving  the  insurance  on  the  ship 
Tarquin,  sunk  at  sea  on  her  homeward  passage.  It 
appeared  that  the  Tarquin,  when  off  Cape  Horn, leaked 
a  smart  thousand  strokes  an  hour ;  that  after  getting 
down  into  the  trades  on  the  Atlantic  side,  they  had 
tinkered  some  of  their  leaks,  and  also,  being  in  lighter 
weather,  she  made  less  water,  so  that  they  pumped 
only  three  or  four  hundred  strokes  an  hour  when  off 
Cape  St.  Augustine.  Well,  they  Held  on  their  course, 
and,  between  there  and  home,  she  gave  out  entirely, 
and  sunk  from  under  'em.  The  underwriters  refused 
to  pay,  and  the  ground  taken  by  them  was,  that  the 
captain  ought  to  have  gone  into  a  port  in  Brazil,  and 
overhauled  his  ship.  Well,  several  old  sea-captains 
were  called  on  the  stand  to  give  their  opinions.  I  re 
member  one  in  particular,  who  is  still  living.  The 
question  was  put  to  him,  whether,  in  his  judgment, 
it  was  prudent  for  the  captain  of  the  Tarquin,  with 
his  ship  leaking  some  three  or  four  hundred  strokes, 
and  Pernambuco  under  his  lee,  to  continue  on  to 
wards  home  ?  '  Prudent ! '  said  the  old  gentleman. 
'  Yes,  why  not  ?  Why,'  said  he,  proudly, '  I  sailed  out 
of  New  Bedford  in  a  ship  leaking  five  hundred  strokes 
an  hour  to  start  on  a  voyage  ! ' ' 

"  Yes,  that  was  in  what  they  call, '  the  good  old 
times,'  "  said  the  cooper.  "  And  that  reminds  me  of 
a  circumstance  that  happened  many  years  ago  in 
which  an  uncle  of  mine  was  one  of  the  parties  con 
cerned.  He  was  homeward  bound  in  an  old  ship,  I  think 
it  was  the  Criterion.  They  got  in  on  the  coast,  made 
Block  Island,  and  took  a  pilot.  It  came  on  to  blow 


OFF    THE    ROCKS    AGAIN,    ETC.  23! 

very  heavily  from  the  northward,  and  they  were  blown 
off  the  coast  and  the  ship  leaked  so  that  they  found  it 
impossible  to  free  her,  and  decided  that  the  only  safety 
for  them  was  to  put  her  off  before  it  and  run  her — some 
what.  Well,  they  let  her  slide  to  leeward  with  both 
pumps  going,  and  when  the  weather  moderated,  they 
found  themselves  so  far  to  the  southward  that  they 
kept  on,  and  made  a  port  at  the  French  island  of 
Martinique.  Here  they  discharged  the  oil,  hove  the 
ship  out,  stopped  the  leaks,  and  took  in  their  cargo 
again.  In  those  days,  you  will  remember,  communi 
cations  with  the  West  Indies  was  not  an  every-day  thing 
as  it  is  now,  and  nothing  was  heard  from  that  partic 
ular  island  for  a  long  time.  Well,  in  the  mean  time 
the  pilot-boat  reported  putting  a  pilot  on  board  ship 
Criterion,  off  Block  island,  such  a  date.  Of  course, 
it  was  supposed  she  had  foundered  in  the  gale,  and  all 
had  perished.  Well,  four  months  afterwards,  away 
along  in  the  summer,  the  Criterion  came  down  to  the 
bar,  and  when  my  uncle  went  ashore  he  found  his 
wife  in  mourning,  having  given  him  up  for  dead  long 
before." 

"  I  believe  that's  a  true  yarn,  Cooper,  if  you  did 
tell  it,"  said  the  mate — "  This  way  the  watch  \  Pump 
ship  /  " 

We  still  held  on  our  course  to  the  westward,  to  make 
a  port  at  one  of  the  Carolines  or  Ladrones,  and  made 
good  progress  with  the  trade  winds  in  our  favor.-  Our 
men  soon  recovered  from  their  injuries,  and  resumed 
their  duties,  rather  priding  themselves  upon  the  ugly 
scars  received  in  the  conflict.  Whether  the  old  man 


232  THE    LOG   OF    THE   ARETHUSA. 

ever  said  anything  in  the  way  of  reprimand  to  the 
second  mate,  I  never  knew.  If  he  did,  the  whole 
matter  was  kept  to  themselves  ;  and,  indeed,  it  was 
not  his  habit  to  find  fault  with  an  officer  in  the  pres 
ence  or  hearing  of  any  subordinate.  Perhaps  he 
thought  it  best  to  overlook  his  almost  fatal  want  of 
vigilance,  in  view  of  his  gallant  conduct  afterwards  in 
charge  of  the  forlorn  hope  on  the  point,  and  trusted 
that  the  peril  though  which  he  had  just  passed  would 
prove  a  salutary  lesson  to  him  for  the  future.  If  so, 
he  judged  correctly,  for  the  young  officer's  eyes  were 
opened  to  his  own  carelessness  ;  and,  in  a  literal  sense, 
he  kept  them  open  the  remainder  of  the  voyage.  As 
I  learned  from  others  in  his  watch,  he  never  was 
known,  after  this  affair,  to  sit  down  during  his  hours 
of  duty  at  night. 

"  We  are  drawing  down  near  to  the  Carolines,"  said 
the  mate  to  me  one  evening,  about  a  week  after  the 
accident.  "  I  think  we  shall  make  Strong's  Island 
to-morrow. 

"  Have  you  ever  been  there,  sir  ? "  I  asked. 

"  Not  to  go  ashore,"  said  Mr.  Grafton.  "  I  have 
passed  in  sight  of  it,  and  I  have  been  in  and  anchored 
at  Ascension,  which  is  beyond  it  to  the  northward 
and  westward.  I  hear  that  ships  visit  Strong's  Island 
quite  frequently  of  late.  I  suppose  the  people  are 
similar  in  appearance  and  character  to  those  of  Ascen 
sion.  We  shall  reconnoitre  there  a  little,  and  perhaps 
the  old  man  will  decide  to  go  in,  if  he  finds  it  a  good 
harbor  to  stay  our  leak  in  ;  if  not,  we  shall  keep  on  to 
Ascension  or  Guam." 


OFF    THE    ROCKS    AGAIN,    ETC.  233 

"  Are  these  people  anything  like  those  at  Kingsmill's 
Group  ? " 

"  Not  at  all,"  replied  the  mate.  "  Neither  in  ap 
pearance,  language  nor  general  character.  There  is 
something  very  interesting  about  them  ;  at  least,  those 
that  I  have  seen  at  Ascension.  They  are  handsomer, 
and  lighter  in  color  than  those  islanders  we  have  left 
behind  ;  and  they  are  also  more  intelligent  and  in 
genious.  The  women,  especially,  are  more  delicate, 
with  good  figures  ;  some  of  them  are  really  pretty. 
Then,  in  place  of  the  gibberish  of  uncouth  sounds 
spoken  in  most  parts  of  Polynesia,  these  people  have 
a  musical  language,  full  of  soft  liquids  and  ringing 
consonants,  that  seems  more  like  Chinese  than  like 
anything  we  are  accustomed  to  recognize  as  a 
'  Kanaka  language.'  " 

"  Are  they  safe  people  to  deal  with  ? "  I  asked. 

"  Well,  no  more  so  than  the  generality  of  savages. 
Indeed  I  think  they  are  quite  as  treacherous,  though 
not  as  hardy  and  warlike  as  Marquesans  or  New  Zeal- 
anders.  None  of  these  races  are  to  be  trusted,  and  we 
must  be  always  on  our  guard  in  our  intercourse  with 
them ;  treating  them  well,  but  never  placing  our 
selves  entirely  in  their  power." 

"  Power  makes  right,  with  them,  as  it  does  with 
civilized  nations,"  I  answered,  "  and  the  same  rule  of 
diplomacy  which  you  have  mentioned  will  apply  to 
our  dealings  with  the  best  of  them,  I  think." 

"  That's  true,"  said  Father  Grafton,  reflectively. 
"  I  suppose,  after  all,  we  are  no  better  than  they 
are,  only  we  have  a  more  genteel  way  of  doing  things 


234  THE    LOG    OF    THE   ARETHUSA. 

and  do  them  on  a  larger  scale.  We  should  not  kill  and 
eat  a  man  or  two  whom  we  caught  on  board  our  ship  ; 
but  if  it  suited  our  purposes,  we  should  very  likely  take 
possession  of  a  whole  island  or  group  of  islands,  and 
kill  the  people  in  a  legal  way,  if  they  resisted  ;  as  is 
being  done  even  now,  by  enlightened  France,  at  the 
Marquesas  and  Society  Islands." 

"  And  if  they  don't  take  possession  of  all  Oceanica." 
said  I,  "  it  is  only  because  it  is  not  worth  their  while, 
or  as  we  Yankees  would  say,  '  it  wont  pay.' " 

"  Just  so,"  assented  the  mate.  "  And  if,  as  some 
think,  England  will  protest  against  this  occupation  by 
the  French,  it  will  not  be  because  of  any  injustice  done 
to  the  natives  but  because  it  might  be  thought  dan 
gerous  to  her  interests  to  permit  France  to  have  these 
naval  stations  in  the  Pacific." 

"  It  is  a  delicate  matter,  any  way,"  he  resumed,  "  to 
do  justice  in  dealing  with  these  savages.  We  must 
secure  the  safety  of  our  own  lives,  if  possible,  and  of 
our  property,  too.  Of  course  I  am  speaking,  now,  of 
the  case  of  isolated  ships,  like  our  own.  It  seems 
cruel  to  kill  or  wound  a  savage  for  pilfering,  especially 
when  we  remember  that  a  plug  of  tobacco  or  a  knife 
may  appear  as  great  a  treasure  to  his  simple  mind,  as 
a  mine  of  gold  or  a  fertile  province  to  our  more  en 
lightened  capacities.  And  yet  how  else  are  we  to 
prevent  the  annoyance,  and  secure  our  property  ? 
We  cannot  reason  with  them,  nor  can  we  punish  them 
according  to  any  civilized  form  of  law.  And  if  we 
kill  or  maltreat  them,  it's  ten  to  one  they  will  retaliate 
upon  some  other  white  men  who  may  be  thrown  in 


OFF    THE    ROCKS    AGAIN,    ETC.  235 

their  way  at  a  future  time.  It's  a  difficult  subject,  to 
make  the  best  of  it,"  said  the  mate,  dismissing  the 
matter  in  an  unsatisfied  way,  as  hundreds  of  others 
have  done  ;  and  taking  up  another. 

"  There  is  evidence  to  prove,"  said  he,  "  that  the 
Caroline  Islands  were  once  inhabited  by  a  race  of 
people  far  superior  to  those  now  found  here.  The 
ruins  of  a  large  stone  building,  apparently  a  religious 
temple  of  some  sort,  still  stand  on  the  island  of  Ascen 
sion,  away  up  in  the  interior,  showing  beyond  all 
question  that  those  who  reared  it  possessed  a  knowl 
edge  of  arts  and  of  mechanical  powers  far  beyond  the 
capacity  of  the  present  owners  of  the  soil.  I  am  told 
that  similar  evidences  are  to  be  found  at  Strong's  Isl 
and,  in  the  form  of  stone  walls,  running  in  various 
directions  about  the  island,  which  never  could  have 
been  built  by  the  present  inhabitants." 

"  What  account  do  they  give  of  them  ? "  I  asked. 

"  So  far  as  I  can  learn,  it  is  as  great  a  mystery  to 
the  present  generation  of  them  as  it  is  to  us  ;  and  I 
have  never  heard  that  they  have  even  any  traditions 
to  account  for  them.  But  there  they  are,"  said  he, 
dismissing  this  subject,  like  the  other,  unsatisfied. 

"  But  it  is  time  to  set  these  faithful  pumps  going 
again  ;  that's  a  practical  matter,  with  not  much  of 
interesting  speculation  about  it.  Pump  ship  !  " 

We  made  Strong's  Island  the  next  day,  as  expected, 
and  running  down  for  it,  saw  two  ships  lying  at  anchor 
in  a  bay  on  the  weather  side  of  it,  making  in  from  the 
south-east.  Th~  oVl  man  lowered  his  boat  and  went 
in,  leaving  us  to  lie  off  and  on  for  his  return.  Soon 


236  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

afterwards  a  canoe  was  seen  coming  out  with  three 
men.  They  paddled  alongside  very  quietly,  in  marked 
contrast  with  the  jabbering  barbarians  whom  I  had 
been  accustomed  to  hear  at  the  other  group,  or  even 
to  the  Portuguese  boatmen  at  the  Azores.  I  was 
locking  at  them  over  the  rail  in  the  waist,  and  wonder 
ing  how  the  first  words  of  their  language  would  sound 
in  my  ears,  when  the  man  in  the  head  of  the  canoe 
spoke  up,  in  clear  and  distinct  English,  "  Give  us  a 
rope,  if  you  please."  The  crew  of  the  Topez  could 
hardly  have  been  more  surprised  when  they  discovered 
Pitcairn's  Island,  and  were  addressed  in  their  own 
language  by  the  descendants  of  the  Bounty  mutineers, 
than  were  we  at  hearing  this  polite  request. 

The  men  came  on  board,  and  it  appeared  that  they 
all  spoke  a  good  smattering  of  English,  though  the 
first  speaker  took  the  lead,  he  having  made  a  short 
cruise  in  a  whaler.  He  told  us  one  of  the  ships  in  the 
bay  was  American  and  the  other  English.  The  mate 
asked  him  if  he  knew  the  name  of  either  of  the  ships, 
thinking  at  most,  that  he  might  get  some  clew  to 
guess  from  ;  but,  to  our  further  astonishment,  he  re 
plied,  "  Ship  Leonidas,  of  New  Bedford,  Captain  Ta- 
ber,  and  Ship  Seringapatam,  of  London,  Captain 
Courtenay,'1  pronouncing  all  the  names  with  the  great 
est  care  and  distinctness.  He  already  knew  the 
name  of  our  ship  and  captain,  having  spoken  the  boat 
going  into  the  bay. 

"  Well,"  said  Mr.  Grafton,  "  they  ought  to  establish 
a  newspaper  here,  and  secure  this  man  as  marine  news 
reporter.  It's  not  one  white  man  in  twenty  could 


OFF    THE    ROCKS    AGAIN,    ETC.  23 / 

have  given  us  these  particulars,  and  done  it  in  as  good 
shape  ; "  for  we  had  learned  how  much  oil  these 
ships  has  taken,  where  they  were  bound,  and  many 
other  things  of  interest  concerning  them. 

"  Why,  either  of  these  men  talk  better  English  than 
any  ordinary  Kanaka  who  has  made  a  four  years' 
voyage  in  a  whaler." 

Our  boat  was  seen  returning,  and  the  old  man  came 
on  board  with  a  favorable  report.  He  gave  orders  to 
get  the  chains  up  and  the  anchors  off  the  bow  at  once, 
having  made  up  his  mind  to  go  in. 

"  It's  a  snug  harbor,"  I  heard  him  telling  the  mate, 
"  and  it's  easy  getting  into  it.  I  have  some  doubts 
about  getting  out  again  as  easy,  but  I  guess  we  shall 
have  a  slant  of  wind.  Taber  went  in  only  yesterday 
and  is  bound  on  Japan  too.  He  wants  a  consort,  and 
will  stay  as  long  as  we  do,  in  case  our  job  of  stopping 
the  leak  should  detain  us.  The  Englishman  is  all 
ready  for  sea,  now,  but  he  can't  get  out  with  this 
wind." 

Within  an  hour  we  were  riding  quietly  at  anchor 
in  six  fathoms,  but  a  short  distance  from  the  beach, 
and  in  a  convenient  place  for  heeling  the  ship  to  re 
pair  the  injury  which  had  caused  us  so  much  monot 
onous  and  fatiguing  labor  at  the  pumps. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 
STRONG'S    ISLAND. 

THE  first  duty  that  engaged  our  attention  after 
coming  to  anchor  was,  of  course,  to  stop  the  leak ; 
which  was  done  much  in  the  same  manner  as  in  the 
former  case  at  Dominica,  except  that  it  was  necessary 
to  stow  all  the  heavy  articles  forward,  and  bring  the 
ship  down  by  the  head,  instead  of  the  stern.  We 
also  attached  a  purchase  to  the  mainmast  head,  and 
to  a  tree  on  the  shore,  to  assist  in  careening  the 
ship. 

The  natives  appeared  to  watch  all  these  operations 
with  great  interest;  and  our  decks  were  alive  with 
them,  both  men  and  women,  the  day  after  our  arrival. 
Compared  with  the  savages,  whom  we  had  previously 
visited,  these  people  might  be  called  gentle  and  quiet 
in  their  habits.  Nothing  could  exceed  the  eagerness 
and  the  perseverance  displayed,  particularly  by  the 
women,  in  acquiring  a  thorough  knowledge  of  our  lan 
guage.  Every  word  that  could  be  picked  up  to  add  to 
their  English  vocabularies  seemed  to  afford  them  a 
peculiar  source  of  delight.  "  What  name  o'  this  ? 
What  name  man  ? "  were  questions  put  to  us  at  every 
turn,  and  our  answers  were  echoed  and  repeated  over 


STRONG  S    ISLAND.  239 

and  over,  till  the  sound  was  fully  mastered.  Thus  the 
English  spoken  by  these  women  was  not  murdered, 
for  each  word  was  thoroughly  learned  before  passing 
on  to  the  next. 

Suddenly  a  muttered  signal  or  countersign  passes 
from  mouth  to  mouth ;  all  noise  and  conversation 
cease ;  and  each  remains  fixed  to  the  spot,  as  if  struck 
by  an  enchanter's  wand.  Not  immediately  seeing 
any  adequate  cause  for  this,  I  asked,  in  great  surprise, 
what  it  meant  ?  One  of  the  girls  ventured  to  whisper 
an  answer  to  me  : 

"  You  see  ?     King  George  come  !  " 

I  looked  over  the  sail.  Our  boat,  which  had  been 
ashore  was  just  coming  alongside,  and,  seated  with 
the  old  man  in  the  stern  sheets,  was  this  potent  auto 
crat,  "  King  George,"  a  rather  good  -looking,  portly 
barbarian,  whose  royal  robes  consisted  of  nothing 
less — or  more — than  a  common  sailor's  checkshirt,  his 
legs  disdaining  any  covering  whatever.  He  had 
doubtless  received  his  title  from  some  ironical  En 
glishman,  and  his  subjects  had  adopted  it  as  proudlv, 
as  it  is  said  our  ancestors  did  the  music  of  "  Yankee 
Doodle." 

As  his  majesty's  head  appeared  above  the  quarter- 
rail,  every  one  of  his  submissive  subjects,  man,  wo 
man  and  child,  fell  upon  deck  in  a  kneeling  or  crouch 
ing  attitude,  with  bowed  heads,  and  thus  remained  till 
their  sovereign  had  completed  his  survey  of  matters 
above  board,  and  passed  below  with  the  captain.  Dur 
ing  this  time  they  rigidly  maintained  their  positions, 
however  uncomfortable,  as  immovable  as  a  well  drilled 


240  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

battalion  of  troops  at  "  parade  rest."  As  soon  as  he 
was  invisible,  everything  resumed  its  former  status, 
and  the  stir  and  bustle  went  on  as  before.  The  same 
etiquette,  I  afterwards  observed,  was  necessary  at  the 
advent  of  any  chief  of  high  rank,  or  any  of  the  juve 
nile  princes  of  the  blood  royal. 

Courtenay,  the  English  captain,  had  visited  this  isl 
and  several  times  before,  and  was  on  very  intimate 
terms  with  King  George.  He  told  us  to  be  on  our 
guard  against  treachery  ;  and  informed  us  that  an 
English  whaleship,  called  the  Harriet,  had  been  taken 
and  burnt  in  the  other  harbor  on  the  lee  side  of  the 
island  about  eighteen  months  previous,  though  her 
fate  had  been  a  mystery  until  quite  recently,  as  the 
natives,  adopting  the  motto  of  ancient  sea-rovers, 
that  "  Dead  men  tell  no  tales,"  had  massacred  every 
man  of  her  crew.  For  more  than  a  year  she  had  been 
a  "  missing  ship,"  when  another  English  whaler,  touch 
ing  at  this  island,  short-handed,  shipped  two  natives, 
who,  a  few  days  after  getting  to  sea,  incautiously  let 
out  the  secret.  The  ship  at  once  put  back  and  came 
to  anchor  in  the  lee  harbor,  and  as  Captain  Courtenay 
happened  to  be  there  at  the  time,  the  two  ships,  act 
ing  in  concert,  succeeded  in  fishing  up  the  Harriet's 
anchor  and  chain,  with  the  charred  remains  of  her 
bow,  still  attached.  The  two  captains,  by  stratagem, 
secured  the  persons  of  some  of  the  chiefs,  and  they 
confessed  the  truth,  but  no  punishment  had  yet  been 
inflicted  by  the  English,  though  there  was  good  rea 
son  to  believe  that  other  vessels  had  been  cut  off  here, 
at  more  remote  dates,  and  no  one  left  alive  to  tell  the 


STRONGS    ISLAND.  2/1 

tale.  They  had  even  destroyed  the  ship's  chronom 
eters,  supposing  them  to  be  alive  ;  for  King  George 
when  questioned  by  Captain  Courtenay  concerning 
the  chronometer  of  the  Harriet,  answered  expressively, 
"  Kill  him.  Take  big  stone,  kill  him." 

The  Seringapatam  still  lay  wind-bound  for  two  or 
three  days  after  our  arrival,  but  at  last,  taking  advan 
tage  of  a  morning  when  the  air  was  quite  light,  though 
blowing  directly  into  the  bay,  we  put  the  boats  of  all 
three  ships  ahead  of  her,  and  assisted  by  the  whole 
flotilla  of  canoes  we  towed  her  to  sea,  keeping  the 
sails  furled,  and  the  yards  pointed  to  the  wind.  We 
thought  King  George  seemed  rather  relieved  when 
he  got  rid  of  her.  He  professed  great  friendship  for 
Captain  Courtenay.  But  his  regard  was,  doubtless, 
based  on  the  wholesome  fear  in  which  he  stood  of 
him  ;  for  the  ship  mounted  eight  guns  in  regular 
broadside,  besides  small  swivels  on  her  topgallant  fore 
castle  and  taifrail,  and  even  had  her  arm-chests  in  her 
tops. 

We  were  successful  in  reaching  and  repairing  the 
injury  under  our  counter,  and,  on  righting  and  trim 
ming  the  ship,  had  the  satisfaction  to  find  her  bottom 
perfectly  tight.  We  could  not,  of  course,  tell  how 
much  external  injury  she  had  received  under  the 
bow. 

I  did  not  fail,  on  going  ashore,  to  notice  the  stone 
walls  of  which  I  had  heard,  and  in  which  I  observed 
some  stones  of  great  size  and  weight,  at  such  heights 
from  the  ground  as  would  indicate  that  the  builders 
must  have  made  use  of  mechanical  power  to  raise 

16 


242  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

them.  I  could  get  no  information  as  to  how  long  they 
had  been  there,  or  for  what  purpose  they  had  been 
raised. 

On  showing  ourselves  near  the  door  of  a  house,  we 
were  always  invited  to  enter  and  take  a  seat  among 
the  family  on  the  floor,  and  the  women  immediately 
put  us  through  a  catechism,  commencing,  according 
to  established  form,  with  the  question,  "  Name  o'  you  ?  " 
This  question  must  be  answered,  and  the  name  repeated 
by  the  whole  family,  until  they  have  the  pronunciation 
perfect.  But  instead  of  following  this  up  by  asking 
"  Who  give  you  that  name  ? "  the  next  query  is, 
"  Name  o'  ship  ? "  and  then,  "  Name  o'  captain  ? "  We 
thought  it  very  remarkable  that  we  found  sufficient 
knowledge  of  English  in  every  family  to  conduct  these 
exercises,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  so  few  ships  had 
visited  the  place,  and  no  white  man  was  then  living 
among  them.  After  these  points  are  all  settled,  a 
pipe  is  produced,  with  the  request,  usually  made  by 
one  of  the  younger  women  in  her  most  seductive  tones, 
"  You  fill  pipe  belong  to  me  ?  "  Of  course  you  feel 
bound  to  honor  this  draft  upon  your  pocket  store  of 
tobacco,  and,  if  you  intend  to  make  many  calls  while 
on  shore,  your  pockets  must  be  well  filled.  It  is  ob 
servable  that  the  pipe  produced  on  these  occasions  is 
invariably  one  with  a  large  bowl,  while  those  used  for 
smoking  are  always  small. 

We  strolled  into  a  large  building  near  the  beach 
abreast  of  our  anchorage,  which  appeared  to  be  a 
feast-home,  a  royal  banqueting  hall.  It  may,  perhaps 
have  been  used  also  as  a  hall  of  council,  if  so  absolute 


STRONG  6    ISLAND.  243 

a  monarch  as  King  George  can  be  supposed  to  consult 
with  any  one  on  affairs  of  state.  I  should  suppose, 
from  what  I  saw  of  this  despot,  that  he  might  have 
had  that  peculiarity  for  which  the  first  Napoleon  is 
said  to  have  been  famous,  of  making  up  his  mind  first, 
and  asking  the  advice  of  his  generals  afterwards.  In 
this  building,  in  a  line  extending  nearly  the  whole 
length  of  it,  flat  stones,  slightly  hollowed  so  as  to  form 
basins,  were  set  into  the  ground,  and  at  each  of  these 
was  seated  a  man,  pounding  kava-root  with  a  smooth 
stone  of  convenient  weight  to  be  swung  in  his  hand. 
The  right  arms  of  all  these  men,  perhaps  twenty  in 
number,  rose  and  fell  in  concert,  with  a  slow  and  meas 
ured  stroke,  uniting  the  sounds  produced  by  the  twen 
ty  stone  hammers  upon  the  basins  into  one  loud  clang. 
Outside,  fires  had  been  built,  and  mysterious  processes 
of  cookery  were  being  carried  on.  I  inquired  the 
meaning  of  all  this  preparation,  and  learned  that 
this  was  a  funeral  feast.  A  woman  of  some  rank, 
the  wife  of  a  chief,  had  died,  and  all  the  high  dignitaries 
were  then  attending  the  burial,  after  which  they  would 
return  to  the  feast-house,  and  "  partake  of  a  grand 
collation,"  as  the  celebration  programmes  have  it.  I 
was  too  late  to  see  any  thing  of  the  funeral  ceremonies, 
for  they  were  even  now  on  their  return.  The  kava- 
root,  after  being  pounding  to  a  fibrous  mass,  is  mixed 
with  clear  water  in  the  stone  basins,  and  the  infusion 
is  strained,  or  rather  wrung,  through  a  sort  of  course 
cloth  of  grassy  appearance,  into  calabashes,  and  is 
ready  for  the  banquet.  The  first  strength  goes  to 
the  king  and  chiefs  ;  it  is  "  spliced  "  two  or  three  times, 


244  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

the  common  natives  being  glad  to  get  a  very  indiffer 
ent  article.  At  many  of  the  islands  of  Polynesia,  the 
kava,  instead  of  being  beaten  with  stones,  is  chewed, 
and  the  masticated  mass  is  ejected  from  the  mouth 
into  a  vessel,  and  then  water  added  to  it  ;  this  chew 
ing  operation  being  performed  chiefly  by  the  women. 
But  at  Strong's  Island,  no  woman  is  allowed  to  take 
any  part  in  its  preparation,  or  even  to  be  present  at 
the  ceremony  of  preparing  or  drinking  it. 

His  majesty  and  suite  being  at  hand,  the  "  funeral- 
baked  meats  "  were  brought  in,  with  piles  of  roasted 
bread-fruit  and  large  bunches  of  bananas,  and  all  the 
natives  sat  or  squatted  in  their  proper  places,  according 
to  rank.  The  king,  seeing  us  whites  looking  on,  beckon 
ed  us  to  take  seats  near  his  royal  person,  and  personally 
saw  that  we  were  liberally  supplied  with  meat  and 
fruit.  We  did  ample  justice  to  the  fare,  as  became 
distinguished  guests,  and  made  a  hearty  meal.  The 
remains  of  the  feast  were  being  cleared  away,  and  we 
were  about  to  leave  in  quest  of  further  adventures, 
when  the  cooper  made  his  appearance  among  us,  with 
his  pipe  in  full  blast. 

"Well,  boys,"  said  he,  "you've  been  having  a  glorious 
wake,  I  suppose,  for  the  old  duchess,  or  marchioness, 
or  whatever  her  rank  may  be.  You  wont  get  drunk 
on  kava,  though,  after  the  aristocracy  have  had  the  first 
wringing  of  it.  You  might  drink  a  deck  bucketful  of 
the  slops  that's  handed  around  afterwards.  How  did 
they  feed  you,  pretty  well  ? " 

"Yes,  cooper,"  said  I,  ''you  should  have  been  here 
sooner.  You  lost  a  good  dinner  by  being  too  late  for  it." 


STRONG  S    ISLAND.  245 

"  ".Yhy  what  did  you  have  for  dinner  ? "  he  asked. 

"  ^omething  that  we  sailors  don't  get  every  day  in 
tie  week ; "  I  answered'.  "  We  can  appreciate  roast  pig 
when  we  do  get  it." 

"  Did  you  have  roast  pig  for  dinner  ? "  asked  the 
cooper. 

"  Certainly,  we  did,"  said  I,  triumphantly. 

"  Well,  I  presume  you  did — all  but  the  pig,"  said 
he,  dryly. 

"What  do  you  mean  by  that  ?"  I  inquired,  dubi 
ously.  There  was  no  smile  on  the  cooper's  face,  but 
that  twinkling  of  his  beard  was  perceptible,  which  al 
ways  denoted  a  high  state  of  inward  enjoyment. 

"  Why,  pigs  that  are  raised  down  our  way,"  said  he, 
"  have  a  different  tone  of  voice  in  expressing  them 
selves.  They  don't  bark!' 

"  Bark  !  "  I  exclaimed,  as  light  began  to  da*wn  upon 
me,  while  some  of  my  companions  already  began  to 
look  a  little  qualmish.  "  You  don't  mean  to  say  that — 

"  I  don't  mean  to  say  anything,"  returned  the 
cooper.  "  Come  outside  and  see  the  sacrificial  altar, 
and  its  trimmings." 

\Ve  followed  him  a  short  distance  back  from  the 
house  till  he  halted,  and  pointed  significantly  to  an 
ensanguined  block  of  wood,  near  which  lay  four  sets 
of  paws,  and  four  heads,  unmistakably  canine,  corre 
sponding  in  number 'to  the  four  "roast  pigs"  at  the 
banquet. 

"  I  acknowledge  the  corn,"  said  I.  "  I  suppose  if 
I  had  known  the  fact  before  dinner,  I  shouldn't  have 
relished  it,  but  it  is  too  late  to  repent." 


246  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

"  But  you  might  say,"  said  one  of  boys  from  the 
Leonidas,  unwilling  yet  to  admit  that  he  had  been 
sold,  "  that  we  don't  know  what  animals  we  had  for 
dinner." 

"  It  needs  no  naturalist  to  tell  us  what  animals  have 
suffered  at  the  block ;  "  said  I,  laughing.  "  We  may  as 
well  face  the  music,  for  there's  hardly  '  a  loop  to  hang 
a  doubt  upon.'  And,  as  another  link  in  the  chain  of 
evidence,  I  now  recollect  that  those  pigs  had  been  de 
capitated  before  they  were  served  up,  though  I  hadn't 
thought  of  it  before.  I  never  knew  that  these  people 
were  in  the  habit  of  eating  dogs." 

"  Yes,  I  could  have  told  you  that,"  said  the  cooper, 
"that  is  to  say,  as  regards  another  island  of  this  group. 
I  know  they  do  at  Ascension,  and  they  prefer  them 
to  pigs." 

"  Well,"  said  I, "  I  suppose  all  of  us  can  now  testify 
that  they  are  as  good  as  pigs,  if  eaten  with  a  sauce  of 
ignorance." 

"  After  the  collation  comes  the  ball  ; "  said  the 
cooper.  You  see  those  fellows  backing  down  wood, 
and  getting  ready  to  make  a  bonfire.  They  will  light 
up  the  fire  after  dark,  and  then  dance  and  sing  round 
it.  But  here's  another  game  going  on.  Let's  go  and 
see  what  this  means." 

The  natives  were  all  gathering  on  a  large  plat  of 
greensward,  near  the  feast-house,  and  the  young  men 
were  seating  themselves  in  a  circle  on  the  ground, 
several  ranks  deep,  so  as  to  leave  an  arena  of  con 
venient  size  in  the  centre.  The  women,  children  and 
old  men  closed  up  outside  of  this  ring  as  spectators,  a 


STRONG  S    ISLAND.  247 

space  being  kept  clear  for  King  George  and  the  prin 
cipal  chiefs,  where  they  could  overlook  the  whole  scene. 
It  was  evident  some  sort  of  gladiatorial  show  or  sparring 
exhibition  was  now  to  begin. 

At  a  signal  from  the  king,  an  athletic  young  man 
sprang  lightly  from  his  seat  in  the  circle  to  the  centre 
of  the  ring,  bringing  his  hands  together  with  a  loud 
clap  of  defiance.  He  was  instantly  confronted  by 
another,  and  the  sparring  was  commenced.  Passes 
were  rapidly  made  and  warded  off,  no  harm  being 
done  to  the  combatants,  as  all  blows  were  struck 
open-handed.  Great  dexterity  was  displayed  on  both 
sides,  the  object  aimed  at  by  all  this,  being,  for  some 
little  time,  a  mystery  ;  but  at  length  the  challenger, 
watching  his  opportunity,  rushed  under  the  other's 
guard  and  seized  him  at  the  waist,  which  closed  the 
combat,  amid  tumultuous  applause  from  king,  court 
and  spectators.  Both  fell  back  to  their  places  in  the 
circle,  the  victor  to  be  petted  and  patted  by  his  de 
lighted  comrades,  and  instantly  a  fresh  champion 
bounded  into  the  arena  to  be  met  by  another.  Thus 
the  entertainment  continued,  till  nearly  every  young 
man  had  put  in  at  least  one  appearance,  and  some 
particularly  smart  fellows  had  come  off  victors  in 
several  matches,  so  that  their  challenges  were  not 
readily  accepted.  Sometimes  a  careless  or  over-con 
fident  youth  would  be  caught  almost  instantly,  calling 
down  upon  himself  the  jeers  and  uproarious  mirth  of 
the  whole  assembly  ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  when 
two  of  the  most  skilful  of  the  gladiators  ^rere  about 
equally  matched,  the  struggle  would  be  prolonged 


248  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

amid  the  eager  and  breathless  attention  of  the  excited 
audience.  Everything  was  expected  to  be  done  with 
the  most  perfect  good  humor ;  and  if,  as  was  some 
times  the  case,  the  vanquished  party  lost  his  temper, 
he  was  greeted  with  such  yells  of  derisive  laughter, 
that  he  was  soon  glad  to  join  in  the  laugh  against  him 
self,  in  order  to  escape  further  ridicule.  The  men 
were  naked,  with  the  sole  exception  of  a  broad  belt 
about  the  hips,  and  their  eager  attitudes  and  quick 
movements  displayed  their  figures  and  the  develop 
ment  of  their  muscle  to  the  best  advantage.  We  all 
agreed  that  the  exhibition  was  a  most  beautiful  one, 
possessing  all  the  wholesome  excitement  that  belongs 
to  athletic  sports  of  this  kind,  without  the  drawbacks 
of  brutality  and  smothered  hatred 

We  remained  on  shore  in  the  evening  to  see  the  dance 
round  the  fire,  which  is  accompanied  with  wild  chants 
or  recitations,  and  has  no  very  striking  points  about  it. 
There  is  but  little  variety  in  the  movements,  and  the 
interest  depends  simply  upon  the  almost  perfect  con 
cert  of  voice  and  gesture  among  a  large  number  of 
performers.  Its  scenic  effect  is  heightened  by  the 
uniform  system  of  tattooing,  the  chief  point  in  which 
is  a  stripe  running  the  whole  length  of  the  arm  on  the 
outside,  and  a  wider  one  up  and  down  the  leg,  like 
those  worn  by  sergeants  in  our  army.  But  on  the 
whole,  the  display  is  inferior  in  variety  and  vigor  to 
the  Marquesan  "  hula  hula''  or  to  the  war-dances  of 
the  North  American  tribes.  An  incident  occurred 
during  this  performance,  which  forcibly  illustrated  the 
absolute  control  over  the  lives  of  his  subjects  pos- 


STRONG  S    ISLAND.  249 

sessed  by  the  irresponsible  despot,  King  George. 
One  of  the  young  men  engaged  in  the  dance  failed  to 
give  satisfaction  to  the  critical  eye  or  ear  of  the  king, 
being,  as  I  thought,  a  little  out  of  time  in  the  chant, 
when,  without  a  word,  the  king  picked  up  a  stone,  and 
hurled  it  at  him.  striking  full  in  his  breast,  and  effect 
ually  knocking  him  out  of  the  ranks,  while  the  dance 
went  on  without  interruption,  as  if  this  was  merely  an 
ordinary  recreation,  in  which  the  monarch  was  wont 
to  indulge  when  the  humor  seized  him.  A  shudder 
and  murmur  of  indignation  ran  through  us  visitors 
from  the  ships  at  this  cruelty,  but  what  could  we  do 
or  say  about  it  ?  The  poor  delinquent  gathered  him 
self  up  and  slunk  away,  evidently  suffering  dreadful 
pain.  He  must  have  been  severely,  if,  indeed,  not 
dangerously  injured;  but  it  seemed  a  matter  of  indif 
ference  to  his  royal  master  whether  he  lived  or  died. 

"I  suppose,"  said  Mr.  Grafton,  who  was  standing 
near  me,  "you  feel  just  as  I  do  about  that  affair  ;  as 
if  you'd  like  to  hurl  that  same  rock  back  at  the 
king's  breast  with  a  will." 

"  Yes  sir,"  I  replied  ;  "  but  it  wouldn't  be  policy  for 
us  to  attempt  anything  of  that  kind." 

"  Hardly  ;  "  returned  the  mate.  "  We  should  have 
a  hornet's  nest  about  our  ears  in  short  order,  if  we 
touched  his  sacred  person.  I  presume  these  young 
men  consider  it  all  right,  and  a  mere  matter  of  course, 
each  one  feeling  that  it  may  be  his  turn  next.  I  have 
no  doubt  that  the  old  savage  has  killed  more  than 
one  of  them  in  getting  them  up  to  their  present  stale  of 
drill.  He  holds  his  subjects'  lives  at  his  own  disposal, 


25O  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

as  much  as  the  Czar  of  all  the  Russias,  or  even  more 
so  ;  and,  as  a  general  rule,  these  savage  races  are  very 
reckless  of  human  life,  seeming  to  attach  but  little 
value  to  it." 

"  Didn't  you  admire  the  sparring  match,  this  after 
noon  ? "  I  asked. 

"  I  didn't  see  it ; "  the  said  mate.  "  I  took  my  gun, 
and  went  out  in  the  woods  pigeon  shooting.  I  had 
pretty  good  luck.  I  got  about  twenty  pigeons,  and 
saw  a  great  deal  of  sport  besides  the  shooting.  The 
old  chief  Seelic  went  with  me,  he  is  the  second  in 
rank  below  King  George,  as  near  as  I  can  get  at  it. 
He  took  another  chief  of  lower  rank  with  him,  and  a 
couple  of  boys  of  no  rank  at  all.  Old  Seelic  and  I 
kept  company,  the  petty  chief  fell  into  our  wake  at 
a  short  distance,  and  the  two  youths  jogged  along 
astern  of  him.  Whenever  we  stopped  a  moment  down 
they  went  on  their  beam-ends  right  into  the  mud  or 
wherever  they  chanced  to  be,  and  waited  there  till 
we  started  on  again,  keeping  their  stations  in  line. 
When  we  got  into  the  woods,  they  were  signalled  to 
keep  in  close  order,  but  it  was  amusing  to  see  man 
oeuvres  when  one  of  the  youngsters  got  the  first  sight 
of  a  pigeon.  You  see,  he  could  not  speak  to  his  su 
perior  in  a  standing  position,  nor  speak  to  old  Seelic 
at  all,  until  commanded  or  invited  to  do  so.  So  he 
would  go  down  on  his  marrow-bones  and  tell  the  pet 
ty  chief,  and  then  he  would  go  down  the  same  way 
with  his  head  almost  in  the  mud,  to  tell  old  Seelic,  and 
sometimes  while  all  this  etiquette  was  going  on,  the 
pigeon  would  take  the  alarm  and  leave  the  tree,  before 


STRONG'S  ISLAND  251 

old  Seelic  could  bring  his  gun  to  bear  on  him.  The 
old  fellow  is  a  good  shot  and  would  drop  his  bird 
almost  every  time.  But  the  war  dance  is  about  fin 
ished  for  to-night,  and  it's  time  to  muster  the  boys  and 
shove  off." 

We  got  all  our  water  and  wood  on  board,  and  a 
good  stock  of  fruit,  though  the  only  recruits  to  be  got 
to  serve  as  sea  stores  for  any  length  of  time  were 
yams,  and  these  of  indifferent  quality.  When  ready 
for  sea,  we  lay  wind-bound  two  days,  but  on  the 
third  the  trades  were  so  far  to  the  northward  that  we 
could  lay  our  course  through  the  passage  in  the  reef, 
and  both  ship's  windlasses  were  at  once  manned  to 
take  advantage  of  the  start.  It  was  observed  that,  as 
we  began  to  get  under  way,  nearly  all  the  natives  left 
us,  and  that  very  few  were  in  sight  even  on  the  beach. 
As  our  anchor  made  its  appearance  .at  the  surface  it 
brought  with  it  the  bight  of  a  small  chain,  which  had 
caught  across  the  stock.  The  few  natives  about  the 
ship  got  sight  of  it  as  quick  as  we  did,  and,  as  conscious 
guilt  needs  no  accuser,  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye, 
they  were  off  for  the  shore,  some  in  canoes  and  others 
jumping  overboard.  It  was  a  critical  moment  for  us, 
as  the  ship  was  swinging,  and  we  could  not  afford  to 
lose  the  wind,  so  we  "  hooked  cat,"  and  secured  our 
anchor,  the  bight  of  the  chain  slipping  off  the  anchor- 
stock,  and  falling  back  to  its  submarine  bed,  where  it 
had  probably  lain  for  several  years.  It  might  have 
been  the  cable  to  a  vessel  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  to  two 
hundred  tons.  In  a  few  minutes  both  ships  were  stand 
ing  out  through  the  narrow  passage,  the  Leonidas  lead- 


252  THE    LOG    OF   THE    ARETHUSA. 

ing,  as  the  increased  strain  on  our  windlass  in  lifting 
the  anchor  had  given  her  the  start. 

It  was  barely  possible  that  the  chain  might  have 
been  slipped  or  accidentally  lost  by  some  vessel ;  but 
probabilities  were  strong  to  the  contrary.  The  evi 
dent  uneasy  feeling  of  the  natives,  when  we  were 
about  taking  up  our  anchor,  was  a  significant  circum 
stance.  Could  we  have  let  go  the  other  anchor,  and 
taken  time  to  investigate  the  matter  by  underrunning 
the  small  t  nain,  we  should,  no  doubt,  have  found  posi 
tive  evidence  of  treachery,  and  might  have  shed  light 
upon  the  fate  of  some  long-missing  vessel. 

We  ran  to  leeward  of  the  island  and  shaped  our 
course  to  the  northward  and  westward,  not  sighting 
any  other  island  of  the  Caroline  group.  In  a  few  days 
we  parted  company  with  the  Leonidas,  and  went  our 
way  alone  toward  the  Japan  cruising-ground. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

ON  JAPAN. — ORMSBEE'S  PEAK. — WHALING  INCIDENTS. 
—A  YANKEE  TRICK. 

THE  words,  "  on  Japan,"  as  used  by  sperm  whale 
men,  do  not  necessarily  indicate  the  near  vicinity  of 
the  islands  of  that  name,  but  indicate  all  that  part  of 
the  North  Pacific  Ocean  to  the  eastward  of  them, 
even  to  the  meridian  of  1 80  degrees,  between  the  par 
allels  of  twenty-five  and  forty  degrees.  The  "  Japan 
Sea,"  lying  between  the  islands  and  the  main  coast 
of  Asia,  had  not,  at  the  time  of  which  I  write,  been 
penetrated  by  whalers,  though  it  has  since  become 
well  known  as  a  right  whaling  ground. 

The  season  "  on  Japan,"  as  usually  made,  was  from 
April  or  May  to  September,  and  the  usual  route  was 
to  run  well  to  the  westward  in  the  early  part  of  the 
season,  and  then  work  back  again,  making  the  autumn 
port  at  one  of  the  Sandwich  Islands  ;  a  group  which 
has  derived  great  importance  from  its  position,  seem 
ing  to  have  been  providently  dropped  midway  in  the 
North  Pacific,  as  a  "half-way  house,"  between  the 
two  continents,  as  well  as  a  haven  of  refuge  for  the 
belated  whalemen  from  all  the  northern  cruising 
grounds. 

The  first  part  of  our  cruise  we   visited  the  Bonin 


254  TH£   LOG   OF   THE   ARETHUSA. 

Islands,  where  we  added  somewhat  to  our  stock  of 
vegetables,  and  in  this  vicinity  we  took  considerable 
oil.  At  an  uninhabited  island  of  this  group  we  also 
made  a  good  haul  of  green  turtle,  which  afforded  us 
high  living  for  the  time  being.  We  stood  to  the 
northward,  cruising  up  the  east  coast  of  Niphon,  one 
of  the  principal  of  the  Japan  Islands,  and  saw  the 
walls  of  the  great  city  of  Jeddo,  but,  at  that  period,  this 
great  empire  was  a  sealed  book  to  all  foreigners  ex 
cept  the  Chinese  and  Dutch,  and  even  to  these  fa 
vored  nations  but  few  pages  were  opened.  We  met 
with  a  junk  now  and  then,  but  they  shunned  all  com 
munication  with  us,  and,  by  putting  off  dead  before 
the  wind,  their  best  point  of  sailing,  generally  man 
aged  to  keep  clear  of  us,  as  we  did  not  care  to  devote 
all  day  to  a  stern  chase.  The  class  of  "junks"  of 
which  we  were  now  especially  in  search  were  not  to 
to  be  found  here,  the  cetaceous  monsters  which  bear 
them  not  appearing  to  frequent  the  immediate  vicin 
ity  of  this  coast.  So  we  hauled  to  the  southward 
again  and  soon  fell  in  with  sperm  whales,  and  with 
numerous  ships,  among  which  were  our  old  consorts, 
the  Fortitude  and  the  Pandora,  both  of  them  having 
met  with  fair  success. 

An  accident  happened  while  on  this  cruising  ground, 
which  had  well-nigh  terminated  the  career  of  our 
worthy  chief  officer.  We  lowered  and  struck  a  large 
whale,  having  a  new  line  in  our  boat,  which  had  been 
stretched  and  coiled  down  only  a  few  days  before,  and 
was  somewhat  wiry,  as  any  whale  line  is  liable  to  be 
when  first  used.  The  whale  sounded  heavily,  and  I 


ON  JAPAN. — ORMSBEE'S  PEAK,  ETC.          255 

watched  the  tub  anxiously  as  the  line  ran  spinning 
and  smoking  round  the  loggerhead.  Already  half 
our  line  was  out  and  had  run  clear  thus  far  when  I 
noticed  a  lifting  of  the  centre  or  "  heart "  of  the  coil 
in  the  tub;  it  was  rising  up  through  the  larger  bights  ; 
the  alarm  was  cried,  "  Foul  line !  Cut  i  "  but  it  was 
too  late.  I  writhed  myself  clear  of  it,  as  it  flew  by 
me  in  a  snarl  and  whizzed  between  the  heads  of  the 
oarsmen  as  they  leaned  outboard  to  escape  the  danger. 
The  snarl  was  gone,  and  the  mate  with  it !  *  The  bow 
man  seized  the  hatchet  and  divided  the  line  as  quickly 
as  possible.  There  was  a  moment  of  anxious  sus 
pense  which  seemed  an  hour.  The  head  of  Father 
Graf  ton  rose  to  the  surface  nearer  the  old  man's  boat 
than  ours  ;  he  was  seized  by  strong  hands  before  he 
could  sink  again,  though  I  could  see  that  he  was  al 
most  at  the  last  agony,  and,  as  they  pulled  him  in, 
the  blood  started  from  his  nose,  and  eyes,  and  even 
from  his  ears !  The  whale  went  to  windward,  spout 
ing  clear,  and  we  soon  gave  up  the  pursuit  as  hope 
less.  But  we  had  saved  our  mate,  and  a  few  hours 
sufficed  to  bring  him  all  right  again. 

"  It  seemed  to  me,"  said  he,  "  that  I  must  have 
passed  half  an  hour  under  water,  though,  of  course,  I 
know  that  the  whole  transaction  did  not  occupy  more 
than  a  minute,  from  the  time  I  went  out  of  my  boat 
till  I  was  in  the  captain's.  I  was  to  blame  myself  for 
being  caught  so  much  off  my  guard,  for  knowing  that 
my  new  line  was  dangerous,  I  ought  to  have  had  the 
hatchet  or  boatknife  in  my  hand  the  whole  time 
the  whale  was  sounding.  But  after  the  alarm  was 


256  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

shouted,  I  hadn't  time  to  pull  the  knife  out  of  the 
becket  before  I  was  overboard.  I  was  caught  with  a 
round  turn  round  my  thigh,  though,  of  course,  I  can 
not  tell  how  it  got  there.  I  know  that  I  made  a  grab 
for  the  boat  knife,  but  was  hurried  away  out  of  the 
reach  of  it  ;  that  I  felt  in  my  pocket  for  my  jackknife, 
and  drew  in  partly  out ;  that  I  then  felt  the  strain 
suddenly  ease  up  at  the  moment  the  line  was  cut  in 
board  ;  that  I  seized  it  with  my  hands  and  shoved  it 
off  my  leg ;  but  from  that  time  I  can  tell  nothing  till 
I  began  to  revive  in  the  other  boat  on  my  way  to  the 
ship.  I  can  give  you  no  idea,  in  words,  of  how  I  felt 
while  I  was  being  dragged  through  the  water  by  the 
ieg,  but  I  should  say  there  was  a  resistance  like  pass 
ing  through  a  solid  wall  that  seemed  to  flatten  me,  as 
it  were,  and  that  a  thousand  sledge-hammers  were 
clanging  right  in  my  ears.  We  lost  our  second  mate 
in  that  way,  when  I  was  in  the  Plutarch,"  continued 
Mr.  Graf  ton,  thoughtfully;  "and  many  another  good 
man  has  met  his  death  in  the  same  manner,  gone  past 
fielp  almost  before  he  could  see  the  danger." 

"  Ah !  Misther  Grafton,"  said  Farrell,  "  I  may  say 
that's  the  only  time  I  ever  felt  glad  to  get  my  fist 
clutched  in  yer  hair,  was  when  I  see  it  bobbing  up 
close  to  our  boat,  sir.  But,  I'm  thinking  ye  had  about 
as  narrow  a  chance  for  yer  life  as  meself  had,  the  night 
I  went  after  the  parr-puses,  bad  luck  till  'em." 

The  next  morning,  Fisher,  who  was  at  the  mast 
head,  reported  four  sails  in  sight,  three  to  the  leeward 
of  us,  and  one  off  the  weather  beam  running  down  for 
us  under  all  sail. 


ON   JAPAN. ORMSBEE  S    PEAK,    ETC.  25 / 

"  Look  sharp  !  "  cried  the  old  man,  "  he  must  see 
something  if  he  is  running  off.  Don't  let  him  get  a 
large  whale  right  under  our  noses !  " 

I  observed  that  he  and  the  mate  exchanged  signifi 
cant  glances,  and  I  thought  too  that  there  was  a  mer 
ry  twinkle  in  his  eye.  I  relieved  Fisher  at  the  mast 
head  after  breakfast,  and  not  long  afterwards,  the 
captain,  who  had  been  getting  sights  to  determine 
his  longitude  by  chronometer,  hailed  me  from  the 
deck. 

"  How  does  that  sail  to  windward  bear  now  ? " 

"  Two  points  abaft  the  beam,  sir/'  I  answered. 

"  Is  he  running  off  yet  ?  " 

"  Yes,  sir  ;  headed  right  at  us,"  said  I. 

"We  ought  to  see  him  from  deck  by  this  time, 
then,"  said  the  old  man. 

"  I  don't  think  you  can,  sir,"  I  answered.  "  He 
don't  seem  to  near  us  much." 

I  heard  a  loud  laugh  from  the  mate,  but  supposed, 
of  course,  it  was  called  forth  by  something  transpiring 
on  deck ;  and  a  few  minutes  afterwards  perceived  the 
captain  coming  up  the  rigging,  with  the  spyglass  slung 
over  his  neck.  He  took  a  comfortable  seat  on  the 
crosstrees  (which  was  more  than  he  allowed  me  to  do, 
for  I  was  required  to  stand  the  whole  two  hours),  and, 
bringing  his  telescope  to  bear  on  the  strange  ship, 
said  to  me  : 

"  So  you  think  he  don't  near  us  much,  eh  ?  " 

"  I  cannot  perceive  that  he  nears  us  at  all,"  said  I. 
"  And  yet  there  he  is,  coming  right  at  us  with  to'gal'* 
antsails  set,  and  the  breeze  on  his  quarter." 

17 


THE    LOG    OF   THE   ARETHUSA. 

"  Well,"  said  he,  "  by  all  accounts,  you  are  not  the 
first  one  by  dozens  who  has  been  mystified  by  thai 
same  craft.  According  to  our  observation,  that  is 
Ormsbee's  Peak ;  a  rock  that  rises  out  of  the  sea  like 
a  tower,  at  a  considerable  distance,  too,  from  any 
other  land.  It  tapers  upward  very  much  like  the 
sails  of  a  ship.  I  never  saw  it  before,  myself,  but  I 
am  told  that  it  is  almost  always  raised  from  the  mast 
head  as  a  sail.  So  you  needn't  take  any  further  note 
of  Ormsbee's  manoeuvres,  for  he  wont  come  down 
near  enough  to  us  to-day.  Keep  a  sharp  eye  on  those 
fellows  under  our  lee.  If  a  whale  comes  up  among 
the  fleet  here,  we  want  to  be  in  the  suds  as  quick  as 
any  of  'em. 

"  This  ship  off  the  lee  quarter,"  said  he,  after  a  ^  ,od 
look  through  his  glass,  "  is  the  Pandora,  I  know  by 
that  new  cloth  in  his  mainsail,  and  the  paint  of  his 
starboard  boat,  too.  That  one  I  don't  know,"  he 
muttered,  "  but  the  farthest  one,  nearly  ahead  of  us, 
looks  very  much  like  our  Strong  Island  partner,  the 
Leonidas,  though  I  can't  swear  to  her  at  that  dis 
tance." 

He  soon  after  went  down  on  deck,  after  again  en 
joining  upon  me  to  keep  my  eyes  about  me.  My 
trick  was  nearly  out,  and  I  had  as  yet  seen  nothing 
to  attract  especial  attention,  the  four  ships  still  main 
taining  about  the  same  relative  positions,  all  on  the 
starboard  tack.  I  was  getting  tired,  and  wondering 
why  the  relief  bell  did  not  strike,  when  I  noticed  the 
Pandora  was  nearer  the  wind  than  she  should  be.  I 
thought  for  a  moment  that  this  was  merely  the  effect 


DN  JAPAN. — ORMSBEE'S  PEAK,  ETC  259 

of  carelessness  on  the  part  of  the  helmsman,  but  de 
termined  not  to  be  caught  napping,  I  hailed  the  deck, 
that  "  the  Pandora  was  coming  in  stays." 

"  No,  he  isn't,"  said  the  old  man.  "  He  has  got  too 
nigh  the  wind,  that's  all.  There,  he  is  filling  again." 

But,  as  he  spoke,  the  maintopsail  of  the  next  ship, 
the  stranger,  swung  in  to  the  mast,  and  his  lee  quarter 
boat  could  be  seen  projecting  from  under  his  counter. 

"  He  sees  whales ! "  I  shouted  ;  but  the  old  man 
was  already  shaking  me  on  my  perch,  as  he  strided  up 
the  rigging,  two  ratlines  at  each  step. 

"  Hard  up  your  helm  !  "  said  he.  "  Square  in  the 
after  yards,  Mr.  Graf  ton,  and  get  the  boats  ready  as 
fast  as  possible.  Call  all  hands  there,  one  of  ye  !  " 

The  Pandora  showed  as  yet  no  manoeuvres,  having 
filled  again  on  the  same  tack,  and  his  starboard  boat 
was  still  in  its  place  on  the  cranes  ;  but  three  boats 
were  down  from  our  next  neighbor,  and  the  supposed 
Leonidas  was  in  the  act  of  wearing  round  to  close 
with  the  rest  of  us. 

"  Where's  the  whale  ? "  asked  the  captain,  as  he  ap 
peared  by  my  side.  "  Steady,  there  !  " 

"  I've  seen  no  whale  yet,  sir,"  I  answered,  "and  I 
can't  see  any  boats  down  from  the  Pandora." 

"  Perhaps  the  stranger  has  lowered  his  boats,  black- 
fishing,"  he  suggested.  "  Worth  has  got  no  extra 
men  aloft,  and  keeps  his  course  as  usual.  If  that  is 
all,  we  may  as  well  luff  to  again." 

He  gave  no  order  to  that  effect,  however,  and  we 
continued  running  off,  rapidly  nearing  the  other  ships. 
A  few  minutes  of  puzzled  suspense  followed,  when 


260  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

the  Pandora's  main  tack,  sheet  and  lee  braces  were 
all  let  go  at  once,  and  she,  also,  lay  hove-to,  just  as 
her  two  boats  shot  out  of  range  of  their  ship  under 
her  \e.z,fast  to  a  whale,  as  was  evident  from  the  white 
water  flying,  and  from  the  speed  at  which  they  were 
moving. 

"  Pretty  well  done,  Worth  !  "  said  Captain  Upton, 
his  keen  admiration  of  his  brother  whaleman  getting 
the  better  of  his  vexation.  "  Luff  to  the  wind  there, 
and  stand  by  to  lower  away  !  There  may  be  other 
whales,  though,  if  there's  only  one,  I'll  sell  out  my 
share  at  a  low  figure." 

Further  concealment  was  unnecessary  ;  down  went 
Captain  Worth's  boat,  and  down  went  all  of  ours, 
pell-mell,  but  before  we  got  very  near  the  fast  boats 
it  was  plain  that  the  whale  was  in  his  flurry,  and  we 
"  hove  up,"  seeing  that  there  was  no  other  one  for  us 
to  attack. 

"  Now,  I  shouldn't  be  at  all  surprised,"  said  Mr. 
Grafton,  "  if  that  was  the  game  whale  that  dragged 
me  so  far  on  the  road  to  Davy's  locker.  They've 
killed  him  so  quick  that  I  think  he  must  have  been 
more  than  half-dead  when  they  struck  him  ;  and  be 
sides,  that  would  account  for  his  not  being  seen  by 
any  of  us,  as  his  spout  would  be  very  faint  and  broken. 
She  must  have  been  very  near  to  the  whale  herself, 
before  she  raised  him." 

"  I  have  no  doubt  it  was  a  wounded  whale,"  an* 
swered  the  old  man ;  "  and  if  so,  it  may  or  may  not  be 
ours.  If  our  iron  is  not  in  him  of  course  we  have  no 
claim  ;  and  I  presume  they'll  take  care  that  it  sha'n't 


ON  JAPAN. — ORMSBEE'S  PEAK,  ETC.          261 

be  in  him,  when  they  take  him  alongside.  But  you 
and  Mr.  Dunham  may  as  well  go  aboard  and  keep  com 
pany,  and  Fll  make  Worth  a  visit  when  he  flukes  the 
whale,  and  see  what  discoveries  I  can  make." 

"  There's  our  boat  to  windward  coming  down," 
said  the  mate,  "  and  that's  Captain  Taber  in  the 
stern  of  her,  or  else  I  don't  know  him.  So  that's  the 
Leonidas.  Come,  pull  ahead,  boys,  and  let's  get 
home  again,  we  can  do  no  good  here.  It'll  be  Worth's 
turn  to  blow  now,  as  it  was  ours  off  the  Western  Isl 
ands." 

We  jogged  leisurely  to  windward,  and  by  the  time 
we  had  our  boats  secured,  the  Pandora  was  hauling 
her  whale  alongside,  while  all  the  captains'  boats 
were  clustered  round  her,  to  learn  the  particulars  of 
the  affair,  the  others  returning  to  their  respective 
ships.  One  of  the  stranger's  boats  pulled  across  our 
stern  just  within  hail,  and  the  mate  asked  what  ship 
it  was.  The  officer  answered  us  without  stopping 
his  boat,  and  all  we  could  make  out  of  the  sound  was 
"  Arrowroot." 

"  Hard  up  and  let  her  go  off !  "  said  the  mate  to  the 
man  at  the  helm.  "  We'll  run  to  leeward,  so  the  old 
man  wont  have  to  pull  up  hill.  Arrowroot,"  said  he, 
musingly,  "  what  name  can  it  be  that  sounds  like 
that?  O,  I  know  now  who  it  is,"  with  a  laugh,  as  the 
truth  occurred  to  him,  "  it's  the  Lalla  Rookh,  of  New 
Bedford.  I  knew  she  was  on  the  ground  here  some 
where." 

It  was  evening  before  the  old  man  returned,  and 
lights  were  set  by  all  the  ships  ;  for  the  four  captains 


262  THE    LOG    OF   THE    ARETHUSA. 

had  improved  this  occasion  for  a  gam,  and  much 
time  was  consumed  in  detailed  accounts  of  their  ad 
ventures  during  the  season,  and  in  examining  the  Pan 
dora's  "  medical  stores "  and  testing  their  quality. 
The  only  effect  upon  our  worthy  captain  was  to  make 
him  rather  more  talkative  than  usual. 

"  I  could  not  lay  any  claim  to  the  whale,"  he  said, 
"  though  I  have  little  doubt  that  it  is  the  same  that 
towed  you  over  the    bows  by  the  leg.     The   whale 
floated,  jaws  towards  the  ship,  when  he  was  fluked,  and 
there  was  the  iron  hole  in  his  starboard  side,  just 
about  as  it  was  in  our  whale.     The  whale  was  badly 
wounded  when   they  raised  him,  and  spouting  very 
faintly.     He  dropped  his  two  lee  boats  in  the  water 
when  he  saw  his  sails  shivering,  and  they  went  right 
down  to  leeward  with  their   paddles,  not  setting  any 
sails,  and,  keeping  in  range  of  the  ship,  we  knew  no 
thing  till  after  they  were  fast.     The  Lalla  Rookh  be 
ing  more  out  ahead  of  him,  could  see  the  boats,  and, 
of  course,  lowered  hers,  but  they  could   see  no  sport 
at  that  distance  when  they  lowered.   Well,  I  cornered 
Mr.  Ray  up  pretty  sharp,  and  he  admitted  there  was 
an  iron  hanging  in  the  whale  when  he  struck  him,  but 
he  says  it  worked  out  before  they  got  him  fluked. 
Perhaps  it  did,  and  perhaps  they  helped  it  a  little.     I 
think  I  should   have   been   sorely  tempted  to  do  so 
under  similar  circumstances.     As  it  is,  he  has  got 
eighty  or  ninety  barrels  of  oil,  and  no  one  else  can  touch 
it,  as  there  is  no  'craft'  to  claim  it  by." 

The  general  rule,  as  established  among  whalemen 
is.  that "  marked  craft  claims  the  fish  so  long  as  he  is 


ON  JAPAN. — ORMSBEE'S  PEAL,  ETC.  263 

in  the  water,  dead  or  alive."  The  irons  are  usually 
marked  with  the  ship's  name,  or  a  convenient  abbrevia 
tion  of  it,  cut  with  a  small  chisel  on  the  flat  of  the 
shank,  near  the  head,  and  if  this  be  found  it  claims 
the  whale,  provided  the  claimant  arrives  before  the 
whale  is  peeled  of  his  blubber.  But  if  another 
ship  has  succeeded  in  cutting  him  in,  no  claim  can  be 
made.  In  case  the  claimant  appears  during  the  pro 
cess  of  cutting,  and  a  mark  is  found,  he  has  a  right  to 
cut  off  the  blubber  square  with  the  plankshear,  and 
take  what  is  blow  it,  but  can  claim  nothing  that  has 
been  raised  above  it.  Such  is  whaler's  law,  as  settled 
by  established  usage  ;  and  perhaps  nothing  could  be 
devised  that  would  be  more  just  than  this. 

A  few  days  after  this,  we  played  another  of  those 
tricks  that  are  so  amusing  to  talk  of,  being  perfectly 
justifiable  in  this  as  in  any  other  business  where  there 
is  competition  and  the  rule  is  to  "  take  care  of  number 
one."  It  was  a  calm  day,  one  of  those  hot  calms  that 
every  whaleman  must  have  experienced  who  has  been 
"  on  Japan  "  in  July  and  August,  and  which  some 
times  last  unbroken  for  a  period  of  several  days,  during 
which  the  heat  seems  more  fierce  and  unendurable 
than  one  has  ever  found  it  within  the  tropics.  One 
ship  was  in  sight  about  two  miles  distant  from  us, 
showing  marks  of  an  Englishman  about  her  rig  and 
general  appearance.  She  had  shown  her  signal,  but 
as  there  was  no  wind  to  open  it  we  were  none  the 
wiser  for  seeing  it. 

We  raised  a  large  whale  about  three  miles  off,  and 
had  the  run  of  his  movements  two  or  three  risings 


264  THE    LOG   OF   THE   ARETHUSA. 

before  we  put  our  boats  in  the  water,  so  that  we  knew 
pretty  nearly  where  to  "  prick  for  him."  We  took 
our  paddles  after  we  had  pulled  about  half  the  dis 
tance  we  wished  to  go,  and  jogged  more  slowly  in  this 
way,  but  with  less  noise.  Meanwhile  the  strange 
ship  had  put  four  boats  down,  and  they  were  coming 
with  their  oars  pulling  with  a  will,  so  as  to  stand  an 
equal  chance  with  us.  The  whale  had  one  rising 
after  we  had  lowered,  and  again  "  turned  flukes " 
undisturbed,  and  now  the  crisis  was  to  come  on  his 
next  appearance.  We  had  spread  our  chances  so  as 
to  be  ready  for  him,  knowing  very  nearly  where  he 
would  appear.  The  strange  boats  came  on,  "  smash 
ing  in  "  with  their  oars,  and  showing  no  intention  of 
heaving  up  or  of  taking  their  paddles.  The  old  man 
took  to  his  oars  and  pulled  near  to  us. 

"  Mr.  Grafton,"  said  he,  "  they'll  gaily  the  whale  if 
they  come  pulling  over  him  when  he  is  about  coming 
up.  I  think  we  are  far  enough,  and  would  like  to  lie 
still  where  we  are.  But  we  must  get  rid  of  these  four 
boats,  and  if  \£s  pulling  they  want,  they  shall  have  it. 
Do  you  take  your  oars  and  pull  hard  right  on  in  the 
same  direction  we  have  been  going.  The  whale 
wont  be  up  for  twenty  minutes  yet,  and  no  harm  will 
be  done.  Speak  to  Mr.  Dunham  as  you  pass,  and  tell 
him  to  pull  ahead  too.  This  will  toll  those  four  boats 
off,  so  that  they  will  lose  the  scent.  But  keep  your 
eyes  on  me  when  the  whale  comes  up." 

The  strange  boats  come  on,  and  seeing  two  of  us 
pulling  with  might  and  main,  while  the  third  had 
apparently  abandoned  the  chase,  three  of  them  followed 


ON  JAPAN. — ORMSBEE'S    PEAK,    ETC.  265 

the  lead  of  the  majority,  and  "  gave  way,"  with  a  lauda 
ble  ambition  to  outpull  us,  which  we  were  quite  willing 
to  allow  them  to  do,  while  the  fourth  hove  up  to  speak 
the  old  man.  He  inquired  the  name  of  our  ship, 
and  reported  himself  as  first  officer  of  ship  Bermond- 
sey,  of  London.  The  captain,  he  said,  was  on  board, 
not  being  in  the  habit  of  going  in  the  boat  himself. 
He  asked  Captain  Upton  what  he  thought  of  the 
chance  for  the  whale. 

"  Well,"  said  our  captain,  "  I  don't  think  I  shall 
chase  him  any  further.  I  shall  let  my  mates  try  him 
a  spell,  but  I  don't  think  much  of  my  chance,  for  I  see 
that  your  boats  pull  so  much  faster  than  mine,  they 
will  have  a  long  start  of  them  before  the  whale  comes 
up  again." 

"  O,  yes  sir,"  said  John  Bull,  "our  boats  can  hout- 
pull  any  bl y  boats  on  the  ground." 

"  No  doubt  of  it ;  indeed  I  can  see  that  myself,"  said 
the  old  man,  seeing  how  eagerly  his  flattery  was  swal 
lowed. 

"  Well,  pull  ahead,  boys  !  "  said  the  English  mate, 
"and  let's  show  them  fellows  how  we  can  pass 
them." 

The  result  was,  fifteen  minutes  later  we  were  about 
a  mile  from  the  spot  where  we  received  orders  to  pull ; 
the  English  boats  a  smart  mile  and  a  half,  except  the 
mate  who  was  just  triumphantly  passing  us ;  the 
whale  up  within  a  ship's  length  of  the  old  man,  and 
he  just  shooting  alongside  of  him.  Our  shouts  of 
laughter  as  we  laid  round  to  pull  to  the  assistance  of  the 
fast  boat,  gave  the  English  mate  the  first  intimation 


266  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

of  the  Yankee  trick  by  which  he  had  been  humbugged. 
An  hour  later  the  breeze  struck  us,  and  we  hauled 
the  largest  whale  of  our  season's  work  alongside, 
while  the  Bermondsey  down  tacks  and  stood  away 
from  us.  in  spite  of  our  signals  inviting  communica 
tion. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

RADACK  CHAIN. WATERING    AT  OCEAN  ISLAND. INCI 
DENTS    OF    THE    RUN    TO    SYDNEY,    N.    S.    W. 

WE  continued  working  to  the  eastward  until  we 
were  in  longitude  170  degrees  east,  but  the  captain, 
not  wishing  to  visit  the  Sandwich  Islands,  determined 
to  leave  this  ground  early,  and  finish  out  the  season 
among  the  groups,  recruiting  at  some  island  where  he 
could  drive  a  barter  trade,  in  which  our  stock  of 
tobacco  and  cloth  could  be  made  available.  Up  to 
the  middle  of  August  we  had  taken  about  five  hundred 
barrels  since  leaving  Strong's  Island.  In  company 
with  our  old  consort,  the  Leonidas,  we  steered  to  the 
southward,  working  down  through  those  intricate  and 
dangerous  archipelagoes  known  as  the  Radack  and 
Ralick  chains  of  islands,  where  we  carried  sail  days, 
and  lay  to  nights  with  two  men  in  the  foretopmast 
crosstrees,  and  all  the  rest  of  the  watch  above  the 
rail.  Ragged  reefs  of  coral,  little  more  than  flush 
with  the  surface  of  the  sea,  stretched  here  and  there 
in  unexpected  directions,  and  sunken  rocks  waylaid 
us  at  every  turn.  .At  times  we  seemed  to  be  embayed 
among  these  dangers,  seeming  the  more  formidable 
from  the  unpronounceable  Russian  names  on  the 
charts,  while  ever  and  anon  a  green  islet  with  cocoanut 

trees  popped  into  view,  as  if  it  had   been  forced  up 

267 


268  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

from  the  depths  of  the  sea,  while  we  had  been  looking 
for  hidden  dangers  in  another  quarter  of  the  horizon, 
and  two  or  three  canoes  would  dodge  out  from  a  lagoon, 
whence  the  only  passage  of  egress  seemed  to  us  to 
have  been  by  a  submarine  route  under  the  reef  of 
rocks.  The  old  saying  among  us,  "  Where  there's  a 
cocoanut  tree  there's  a  Kanaka,"  though  not  infallible, 
held  good  through  all  this  labyrinth.  Sperm  whales 
were  seen  several  times,  and  in  one  instance  we  took 
two  small  whales  and  cut  them  with  canoes  alongside 
of  us  from  a  pretty  little  island,  nestled  among  ugly  reefs 
which  stretched  out  like  antennae  to  draw  luckless 
mariners  into  destruction.  What  it  was  called  by  the 
Russian  officers  I  cannot  now  remember,  but  the 
name  itself  was  ragged  enough  to  bring  a  ship  up  all 
standing.  We  were  not  sorry  when  we  had  wound 
our  way  clear  of  these  perils  without  accident,  and 
emerged  into  a  comparatively  open  sea. 

We  struck  the  equator  between  the  longitudes  of 
Ocean  and  Pleasant  Islands,  where  we  got  a  "  cut "  of 
a  hundred  and  fifty  barrels,  and  stood  in  under  the  lee 
of  Ocean  Island  to  get  a  few  casks  of  water.  We 
bargained  with  one  of  the  white  "  beach-combers  "  to 
fill  them  by  contract  at  so  many  heads  of  tobacco  for 
each  cask.  I  went  ashore  in  the  boat,  with  the  second 
mate,  having  the  casks  in  tow.  We  rolled  them  up  on 
the  reef  and  then  high  and  dry  on  the  beach.  I  was 
conscious  all  the  time  of  a  strange,  giddy  feeling,  which 
seemed  to  be  occasioned  by  the  odors  from  the  land, 
and  as  I  went  up  from  the  reef  to  the  soil  and  drew 
near  to  the  cpcoanut  grove  near  the  landing,  this  feel- 


RADACK   CHAIN. WATERING,    ETC.      •          269 

ing  overpowered  me,  my  strength  seemed  to  have  left 
me  all  at  once,  I  felt  a  tingling  pain  in  my  legs,  and 
fell  helpless  to  the  ground.  I  was  surprised,  and  rather 
indignant  withal,  to  perceive  that  Mr.  Dunham  was 
laughing  at  me. 

"  Ah  !  "  said  he,  "  it's  well  for  you  that  you  came 
ashore.  "  It's  time  we  all  had  a  land  cruise  and  a 
good  run  among  the  fruit  trees.  We  shall  all  be  better 
for  this  day's  work." 

"  Why,"  I  asked,  "  what  do  you  suppose  ails  me  ?  *' 

"  It's  the  scurvy  working  out  of  you,  I  suppose," 
said  he.  "That's  what  we  call  it.  I  have  seen  the 
same  phenomenon  once  or  twice  before  in  men  who 
had  shown  no  symptoms  of  the  disease  while  at  sea, 
but  the  first  contact  with  the  land  affected  them  as  it 
does  you  now.  That  will  soon  pass  off  and  you  will 
feel  better  than  ever." 

His  prediction  proved  true.  In  a  few  minutes  a 
slight  attack  of  vomiting  relieved  me,  and  I  rose  to 
my  feet.  The  dizziness  gradually  passed  away,  and  I 
felt  stronger  and  fresher  than  when  I  landed. 

The  casks,  in  the  mean  time,  had  been  rolled  in  a 
tier  with  the  bungs  out,  I  saw  no  watering-place  from 
which  they  were  to  be  filled.  I  naturally  asked,  "  where 
is  the  water  ? " 

"  O,"  said  Dan,  the  white  man,  "  the  water  here  is 
away  up  inland,  in  a  sort  of  cave  under  ground." 

"  Is  that  the  only  fresh  water  here  ?"  I  inquired. 

"That's  all,"  said  he.  "  I  shall  put  on  my  gang  to 
bring  it  down.  Here's  some  of  'em  ;  they're  beginning 
to  muster  now." 


2/O  THE  LOG   OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

To  my  further  astonishment,  his  "  gang,"  as  he 
termed  them,  were  all  of  the  female  "  persuasion." 

"  You  don't  mean  to  say  that  these  woman  are  go 
ing  to  lug  all  this  water  two  or  three  miles  ?  " 

"  Yes,  certainly,"  said  he.  "  The  men  are  too  lazy 
to  do  any  such  drudgery,  and  think  women  were  born 
expressly  for  it,  and  not  fit  for  much  else.  Besides, 
only  women  are  allowed  to  enter  the  water-cave. 
Gentlemen  are  not  admitted." 

Each  of  these  women  brought  some  half  a  dozen 
cocoanut  shells,  slung  with  short  strings,  so  as  to  be 
carried,  two  or  three  in  each  hand. 

"  Why  don't  you  get  the  ship's  buckets  ?  "  I  asked. 

"  O,  they  don't  want  buckets,"  said  Dan  :  "  they 
wouldn't  use  ;em  if  they  had  'em.  You  must  let  'em 
work  in  their  own  way." 

They  did  work  their  own  way  ;  and  all  day  long, 
and  day  after  day,  for  it  took  them  several  days  to  fill 
twenty  casks.  The  battalion  of  women,  in  Indian  file, 
could  be  seen  on  their  winding  way  as  they  carried 
their  burdens  to  the  beach,  inverted  their  cocoanut 
shells  over  the  tunnel,  and  retraced  their  weary  steps 
to  the  subterranean  pool,  while  the  men  looked  com 
placently  on,  and  Dan,  the  contractor,  lay  drunk  the 
best  part  of  the  time  on  fire-water  of  his  own  manu 
facture. 

As  a  consequence  of  his  carelessness,  he  was  obliged 
to  fill  four  or  five  casks  the  second  time,  as  we  found 
the  water  salt  on  taking  it  on  board,  and  the  captain 
refused  to  pay  the  tobacco  until  he  had  fulfilled  his 
contract.  It  was  evident  the  women  had  gone  astray 


RADACK    CHAIN. WATERING,    ETC.  27! 

in  their  wanderings,  and  filled  some  of  their  shells  at 
the  ocean  instead  of  at  the  inland  lake. 

The  manufacture  of  intoxicating  liquor  follows 
close  upon  the  advent  of  white  men  as  settlers  or 
dwellers  among  savage  tribes ;  indeed  the  sight  of  a 
whiskey  still  would  have  been  as  satisfactory  evidence 
to  the  shipwrecked  mariner  of  the  presence  of  civil 
ized  men,  as,  it  is  said,  was  that  of  the  gallows.  With 
a  rude  apparatus,  a  liquor  is  distilled  from  the  sap  of 
the  cocoanut  tree,  which  is  warranted  to  "kill  at  as 
many  yards  "  as  any  article  of  tangle-foot  dispensed 
over  the  bar  of  the  most  notorious  "  chainlocker  "  in 
New  York  or  London.  '  The  exhilarating  cordial, 
known  among  seamen  by  the  name  of  "  dent "  (the 
word  being  a  contraction  of  the  Spanish  aguardiente), 
is  smuggled  on  board  at  almost  every  island  where  a 
white  man  has  located  himself  ;  and  it  is  well  known 
that  Jack  will  "  suck  the  monkey  "  in  whatever  form 
or  wherever  he  presents  himself,  as  well  in  the  Pacific 
as  at  the  West  Indies. 

Here  we  parted  company  with  our  friends  of  the 
Leonidas,  she  being  bound  to  Otaheite,  to  examine 
the  head  of  her  mainmast,  which  had  been  discovered 
to  be  rotten  to  a  considerable  depth.  We  worked 
slowly  down  to  the  westward,  hauling  to  the  wind 
during  the  night,  and  running  off  under  easy  sail  in 
the  daytime,  so  as  to  look  the  ground  over  carefully. 
We  picked  up  another  hundred  barrels  of  oil  before 
we  reached  the  parallel  of  160  degrees  east,  and  as 
we  had  now  twenty-one  hundred,  the  remainder  of 
our  voyage  was  a  sort  of  running  cruise  towards  our 
last  port  and  home. 


2/2  THE    LOG    OF    THE   ARETHUSA. 

In  this  longitude  we  hauled  on  the  southern  tack, 
running  near  Lord  Howe's  group  and  through  the 
Solomon  Archipelago.  We  took  three  small  whales 
so  near  to  one  of  the  former,  that,  when  the  third  one 
turned  up,  he  was  within  less  than  a  hundred  yards 
of  the  reef,  the  savages  yelling  at  us  from  the  shore. 
The  ship  was  about  a  mile  and  a  half  from  us,  with 
two  whales  fluked  alongside,  and  carrying  sail  to  hold 
her  position.  As  the  old  man  dared  not  run  off  to 
take  the  third  whale  alongside,  he  sent  the  ottter  two 
boats  to  our  assistance,  with  orders  to  tow  the  whale 
on  a  wind.  We  set  our  sails  and  took  the  oars,  and 
accompanied  by  howling  barbarians  both  on  shore 
and  in  canoes,  we  towed  the  whale  about  ten  miles  to 
the  southward,  until  clear  of  the  island  and  adjacent 
reefs,  so  that  the  ship  could  come  down  to  us  without 
danger.  During  the  four  or  five  hours  that  we  were 
thus  employed,  those  in  the  canoes  kept  within  a 
short  distance  outside  of  us,  while  their  comrades  on 
the  beach,  women,  children,  and  all,  travelled  along 
shore  abreast  of  us,  an  infernal  serenade  rising  on 
both  sides  of  us  without  cessation.  They  would  have 
attacked  us  if  they  had  dared  ;  but,  though  of  course 
constantly  on  our  guard,  we  did  not  much  fear  them. 
They  mustered  about  fifty  canoes,  containing  between 
two  and  three  hundred  warriors,  but  dared  not  ven 
ture  within  reach  of  our  whaling  weapons.  They  at 
one  time  seemed  to  be  making  preparations  to  give 
us  a  volley  of  stones,  at  long  shot,  but  the  captain, 
seeing  a  suspicious  movement  among  them,  fired  the 
six-pounder,  which  was  kept  trained  upon  them  all 


RADACK    CHAIN. WATERING,    ETC.  2/3 

the  time,  and  sent  a  shot  whizzing  over  their  heads, 
which  had  the  effect  of  cooling  their  ardor.  They 
were  more  wary  after  this,  and  made  no  further  hos 
tile  demonstrations,  but  escorted  us  the  whole  dis- 
'"ance,  and  lay  on  their  paddles  until  the  ship  had  ap 
proached  quite  near  us,  evidently  waiting  in  the  hope 
that  some  accident  or  turn  of  fortune  would  place  us 
in  their  power.  As  a  general  rule,  savages  will  not 
make  an  attack,  unless  all  the  circumstances  are  over 
whelmingly  in  their  favor.  We  saved  our  three 
whales,  and  made  a  safe  offing  with  the  ship,  before 
night,  but  the  wild  din  of  their  voices  seemed  to  ring 
in  my  ears  for  a  week  afterwards.  These  people  had 
the  gristles  of  their  noses  split,  and  many  of  them 
had  inserted  large  ornaments  (?)  of  shell  or  bone, 
which  hung  down,  so  as  in  a  great  measure  to  hide 
their  mouths.  They  were  a  hideous  looking  race, 
and  I  confess  to  a  decided  reluctance  to  becoming  a 
subject  of  their  tender  mercies. 

At  San  Cristoval,  one  of  the  Solomon  Islands,  we 
drove  a  smart  trade  for  yams  and  fruit,  the  currency 
used  here  being  hoop-iron,  cut  into  pieces  a  few  inches 
long,  like  the  money  of  the  ancient  Spartans  in  the 
days  of  Lycurgus.  Here,  for  the  first  time,  we  met  with 
people  possessing  the  characteristic  of  the  African, 
for  there  are  two  great  families  of  races  in  Polynesia. 
These  Ethiops  of  the  Pacific,  or  Oceanic  negroes  as 
they  are  called,  are  even  more  repulsive  in  appearance 
than  the  wearers  of  the  ponderous  nasal  ornaments  at 
Lord  Howe's  group.  Their  hair,  or  wool,  has  the 
true  African  kink  in  it,  both  ends  seeming  to  grow 

18 


2/4  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

into  the  skull,  and  is  turned  a  dull  reddish  color  by 
the  application  of  lime,  or  something  of  that  nature,  giv 
ing  them  the  appearance  of  having  the  head  protected 
by  what  seamen  call  a  "  thrummed  mat."  The  teeth 
are  colored  or  discolored  by  the  use  of  the  betel-nut, 
till  they  are  darker  than  their  skins  ;  in  fact  those  of 
men  past  middle  age  are  jet  black.  But  they  seem 
well-disposed  to  whites,  and  inoffensive,  and  our  in 
tercourse  with  them  was  marked  by  no  unpleasant 
occurrence.  The  canoes  used  by  these  people  are 
very  light,  and  neatly  ornamented,  giving  evidence 
of  considerable  taste  and  skill  in  their  construction, 
while  the  dexterity  of  the  natives  in  balancing  and 
managing  them  seems  perfectly  miraculous,  as  they 
have  no  beam  to  spare  and  no  outriggers  ;  yet  they 
come  off  several  miles  to  sea  in  them,  keeping  their 
equilibrium  seemingly  without  difficulty,  and  jeered 
and  shouted  with  true  negro  delight  at  our  bungling 
attempts  to  manage  them. 

We  pressed  through  Indispensable  Straits,  continu 
ing  our  running  cruise  towards  the  coast  of  Australia, 
but  without  taking  any  more  oil  till  we  reached  the 
latitude  of  twenty-two  degrees,  being  about  midway 
between  Booby  Shoal  and  Cato's  Bank,  when  two  large 
sperm  whales  were  raised  in  the  morning,  and  down 
we  went  in  pursuit.  The  waist  boat  got  the  lead  and 
was  soon  fast  to  one  of  them  and  her  line  going  out 
of  the  tub  at  a  rate  that  promised  soon  to  empty  it. 
Seeing  this  state  of  things,  our  line  was  cast  off  from 
the  craft,  and  I  stood  reach-  to  throw  the  end  into  the 
other  boat ;  but  the  second  mate,  anxious  to  "  drown 


RADACK    CHAIN. — WATERING,    ETC.  2/5 

him  out "  without  bending  on  another  line,  snubbed 
him  too  hard  and  parted.  We  pulled  ahead  in  pursuit 
of  the  whale,  but  when  he  came  up  again  he  was  push 
ing  to  the  windward  much  faster  than  any  boat  could 
pull.  There  was  nothing  for  us  but  to  return  to  the 
ship  and  take  the  boats  up,  very  ill-satisfied  with  our 
forenoon's  work,  for  we  had  lost  an  iron  and  nearly 
a  tubful  of  line,  and  had  nothing  to  show  for  it. 

We  made  sail  on  a  wind,  and  soon  after  raised  a 
whale  on  the  weather  beam  coming  to  leeward.  From 
his  actions,  as  at  times  he  lashed  the  water  into  foam, 
we  were  satisfied  that  it  was  the  same  whale  that  we 
had  struck.  Soon  another  was  seen  off  the  lee  beam 
coming  to  windward.  We  hauled  aback  and  lowered 
away  again,  spreading  our  chances  well.  The  two 
whales  came  together,  and  jogged  to  leeward  in  com 
pany.  The  next  chance  fell  to  our  boat,  and,  as  the 
mate  called  me  up  to  dart,  I  perceived  that  the  whale 
with  the  iron  hanging  at  his  side  was  farthest  from  me, 
and,  seeing  not  much  choice  in  them  for  size,  I  pitched 
my  iron  into  the  other  one.  The  other  boats  were  on 
hand  to  assist  us,  and  we  soon  killed  and  secured  this 
whale,  while  the  wounded  one  again  escaped,  spouting 
strong  and  clear. 

We  had  light  airs  for  three  or  four  days-succeeding 
this,  and  were  not  slow  to  express  our  discontent,  as 
we  made  but  little  progress  towards  Sydney,  the  port 
we  were  all  so  anxious  to  see.  We  had  cut  and  boiled 
out  our  first  whale,  and  still  the  wind  was  lighter  than 
ever,  almost  gone  entirely,  while  our  ship,  seeming  as 
impatient  as  ourselves,  lay  rolling  on  the  glassy  sea, 


276  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

when  a  black  object  was  seen  from  the  masthead,  five 
or  six  miles  off,  abeam  of  us,  tossing  into  view  on 
the  swell,  and  disappearing  again  ;  and,  after  examin 
ing  it  through  the  spy,glass,  we  were  satisfied  that  it 
was  a  dead  whale.  So  our  boat  was  lowered  away  to 
examine  him,  and  found  a  large  whale,  but  little  blas 
ted,  having  been  dead,  apparently  about  forty-eight 
hours.  We  cut  out  the  iron  from  his  side  and  found, 
as  we  expected,  the  name  "Arethusa,"  underrun  our 
line,  and  saved  the  whole  of  it,  set  a  waif  for  the  other 
boats,  and  towed  him  down  to  the  ship  in  triumph. 
We  now  had  reason  to  congratulate  ourselves  upon 
the  light  airs  that  had  been  the  occasion  of  so  much 
growling,  and  instead  of  having  lost  a  line,  with  noth- 
iug  to  show  for  it,  as  at  one  time  seemed  to  be  the 
result  of  our  attack  upon  these  two  whales,  we  had 
saved  it,  and  added  a  hundred  and  fifty  barrels  of 
sperm  oil  to  our  cargo. 

The  next  day  we  got  the  breeze,  and  trimmed  to  it 
as  soon  as  we  had  finished  cutting.  A  few  days  found 
us  running  down  the  coast  of  New  Holland,  with  the 
land  well  aboard  and  a  fair  wind,  only  thirty  miles  be 
tween  us  and  the  entrance  to  our  port,  and  every  pros 
pect  of  being  at  anchor  before  night.  But  we  were 
doomed  to  disappointment,  for  the  wind  suddenly  shift 
ed  to  the  southward,  heading  us  off,  and  blew  up  a 
gale  about  as  fast  as  we  were  able  to  strip  the  canvas 
off  the  ship.  Noon  saw  us  lying  to,  on  the  off-shore 
tack,  under  a  goose-winged  maintopsail  and  storm 
staysails.  The  wind  still  increased,  and  we  rode  out 
a  wild  night  under  this  short  sail,  while  the  wind, 


RADACK   CHAIN. WATERING,    ETC.  277 

meeting  a  counter  current  which  sets  to  the  southward 
along  this  coast,  occasioned  a  short,  chopping  sea, 
which  knocked  us  about  rather  roughly,  and,  in  one 
of  her  heavy  lurches,  the  waist  boat  was  rolled  under 
and  lost.  This  was  the  only  accident  we  met  with, 
however  ;  the  gale  blew  out  in  twenty-four  hours  and 
the  wind  having  settled  light  from  the  southward,  we 
were  compelled  to  make  out  our  log  for  four  or  five 
days  at  least.  So  we  made  all  sail,  and  boarded  our 
tacks,  standing  off  and  on. 

While  we  were  beating  here,  having  stood  well  in  on 
the  inshore  stretch,  a  small  steamer,  which  plied  as  a 
packet  between  Sydney  and  Newcastle,  passed  us, 
shearing  nearer  as  she  approached,  enough  to  read  the 
name  on  our  stern.  The  sight  of  a  steamboat  was,  of 
itself,  a  sufficient  novelty  to  fix  the  attention  of  every 
man  on  deck,  but  what  a  burst  of  emotion  greeted  the 
appearance  of  a  woman  on  the  deck  of  the  steamer ! 
The  word  was  passed  below,  and  the  other  watch  were 
all  on  deck  in  a  twinkling  to  look  at  her.  She  appear 
ed  to  be  the  only  lady  passenger  on  board,  or  at  least 
the  only  one  who  was  able  to  show  herself  on  the  upper 
deck.  At  that  distance,  it  was  difficult  to  say  whether 
she  was  young  and  beautiful,  or  otherwise,  but  she 
was  at  least  a  white  woman  in  a  civilized  dress,  an 
object  which  had  not  greeted  our  eyes  for  more  that 
two  years  We  had  taken  our  last  look  at  a  phenom 
enon  of  this  kind  when  we  left  Talcahuano,  four 
months  out. 

"  Well,  Mr.  Grafton,"  said  the  old  man,  as  they  both 
drew  a  long  breath  after  the  vision  had  passed  out  of 
view,  "  how  do  you  feel  ?  homesick  ? " 


2/8  THE    LOG   OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

"  Well,  yes,  sir,"  replied  the  mate ;  "  I  suppose  that's 
what  you  may  call  it.  The  sight  of  a  woman  of  our 
own  color  and  race,  after  we  have  been  outcasts  so 
long,  does  have  a  humanizing  influence,  and  starts  up 
associations  of  home,  and  of  near  and  dear  ones  left 
there." 

"  Yes,  that's  true,"  said  the  captain.  "  That  lady, 
who  ever  she  is,  may  safely  boast  that  she  has  created 
a  sensation  at  least  once  in  her  life.  Here's  Mr.  Dun 
ham  has  lost  half  his  watch  below  on  her  account,  and 
Cooper  has  dropped  a  shook  that  he  had  half-raised  in 
the  hoop,  and  seems  in  no  hurry  to  pick  up  the  staves 
again.  There  are  two  boys  up  in  the  fore-rigging,  try 
ing  to  get  another  look  at  her  yet." 

The  two  boys,  still  so  called,  were  Obed  B.  and 
Kelly  ;  no  longer  boys,  but  broad-chested,  muscular 
young  men,  worthy  representatives  of  the  ocean  chiv 
alry  of  their  native  island,  and  still  as  inseparable 
as  ever,  the  very  Pythias  and  Damon  of  our  little 
circle. 

We  got  a  slant  of  wind  the  next  day  after  this  in 
cident,  and  worked  up  near  the  headlands  of  Port  Jack 
son,  so  that  we  took  a  pilot.  But  having  the  wind 
light,  it  was  late  in  the  day  before  we  passed  inside 
the  heads,  and  from  there  we  had  seven  miles  to  work 
up,  to  the  anchorage  before  the  town.  The  whole 
British  navy  might  find  ample  room  to  moor  in  this 
beautiful  bay,  and  might  all  ride  in  safety,  under  any 
ordinary  circumstances.  It  was  a  fine  moonlight 
evening  when  we  went  in,  and  as  we  shot  handsomely 
into  our  berth  among  the  fleet  of  vessels,  it  was 


RADACK    CHAIN. WATERING,    ETC.  2 79 

difficult  to  realize  that  we  had  actually  arrived  among 
civilized  white  men.  The  whole  thing  seemed  like 
enchantment,  coming,  as  we  did,  from  recent  contact 
with  howling  savages,  the  echo  of  whose  infernal 
gibberish  had  hardly  ceased  ringing  in  our  ears.  Our 
anchor  rattled  merrily  to  the  bottom  for  the  first  time 
in  eight  months,  and  we  furled  our  sails  leisurely, 
lingering  on  the  yards  to  look  wonderingly  on  the 
numerous  lights  in  the  town,  and  to  listen  to  the 
pealing  of  a  sweet  chime  of  bells,  for  it  was  Sunday 
evening  on  shore,  though  Saturday  by  our  reckoning. 
As  the  reality  of  it  all  came  home  to  our  minds,  as 
we  gradually  became  assured  that  the  unwonted  sounds 
and  sights  were  no  dream,  but  tangible  truth,  a  good 
influence  was  exerted  upon  all.  No  noisy  demonstra 
tions  hailed  the  event  so  ardently  looked  forward  to, 
but  a  feeling  of  tranquil  happiness  and  gratitude  seem 
ed  to  pervade  the  whole  ship's  company.  No  night 
of  the  voyage  was  spent  more  quietly  on  board  the 
Arethusa,  certainly  none  more  happily,  than  the  first 
night  after  her  canvas  was  furled  in  the  last  Pacific 
port. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

SYDNEY. — UP    ANCHOR  FOR   HOME. — "  GALWAY    MIKE." 

WHAT  a  change  in  their  bill  of  fair  awaited  our  crew 
the  morning  after  our  anchor  went  down  in  this 
beautiful  harbor  ;  the  change  from  the  eternal  salt 
junk  and  yams,  and  unrelenting  hard-tack,  to  the 
luxuries  of  a  Sydney  bumboat  !  The  sailor,  to  be  sure, 
is  no  great  connoisseur  in  matters  of  this  sort  ;  never 
theless,  as  our  observant  cook  pithily  expressed  it, 
"  he  likes  good  grub  better  than  he  does  poor."  A 
very  small  sum  of  money  was  sufficient  to  spread  a 
table  (or  a  sea-chest,  either,)  with  baker's  loaves,  fresh 
butter  and  cheese,  new  milk,  eggs,  and  various  other 
"  manavelins,"  as  Jack  terms  them.  I  write  the  word 
as  it  is  pronounced,  but  my  researches  in  etymology, 
are,  thus  far,  all  at  fault.  Neither  Noah  Webster  nor 
Nat  Bowditch  throws  any  light  on  the  matter. 

Prices  of  fresh  meats,  except  pork,  were  almost 
nominal.  Beef  could  be  bought  at  a  penny  a  pound, 
mutton  at  three  farthings  ;  for  this  was  long  before 
the  gold  discoveries  in  Australia  or  California.  No 
flood-tide  of  emigration  had  yet  set  in  that  direction  ; 
no  yellow-metal  fever  had  yet  raged  to  inflate  prices 
to  a  fictitious  standard.  Australia  possessed  peculiar 
advantages  as  a  grazing  country,  and  stock  could  be 
280 


SYDNEY. UP  ANCHOR  FOR  HOME,  ETC.    28 1 

raised  almost  without  trouble  or  expense  Thousands 
were  slain  merely  for  the  hides,  horns  and  tallow,  and 
extensive  shipments  of  these  articles,  as  also  of  wool, 
were  made  to  the  mother  country.  Several  large 
ships  were  loading  at  the  time  of  our  arrival,  forcing 
the  bales  of  wool  into  their  places  with  jack-screws, 
much  after  the  manner  of  our  cotton-droghers  in 
southern  ports. 

Sydney  impressed  us  as  rather  a  handsome  town, 
though  not  showy  or  glaring  in  appearance,  most  of 
the  buildings  being  of  a  crumbly  sandstone,  which  is 
quarried  in  the  immediate  neighborhood,  and  worked 
out  by  convict  labor.  We  inferred,  from  what  we  saw, 
that  stone  might  be  cheaper  than  lumber  for  building 
purposes.  The  convicts  who  worked  in  quarrying 
stone  appeared  to  be  the  most  finished  illustrations 
of  laziness  reduced  to  a  system  that  I  have  ever  met 
with,  and  to  accomplish  the  least  amount  of  work  that 
it  was  possible  for  men  to  perform  who  kept  steadily 
at  it  all  day.  This  was  what  they  called  "  working 
government  stroke  ; "  and  they  might  have  all  taken 
diplomas  at  the  great  Circumlocution  Office  in  the 
science  of,  How  not  to  do  it.  They  were  not  allowed 
to  stop  work  entirely,  nor  were  they  ever  hurried  up. 
Sentinels  in  scarlet  paced  back  and  forth  near  them, 
but  this  was  merely  to  preserve  order  and  to  prevent 
escape.  The  convicts  themselves  were  all  in  uniform 
of  stout,  coarse  cloth,  with  the  name  of  the  gang  or 
division  to  which  they  belonged  conspicuously  sten 
ciled  on  the  leg  of  the  pants,  and  across  the  back  of 
the  frock-shirt.  Thus  some  were  labelled  "  Chain 


282  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

Gang,"  others  "  Hyde  Park  Barracks,"  and  so  on. 
They  were  scarcely  ever  called  convicts  here,  I  ob 
served,  being  spoken  of  either  politely,  as  "government 
men,"  or  else,  in  slang  phrase,  as  "  lags." 

One  of  the  striking  features  of  Sydney,  as  of  all 
British  seaport  towns  of  any  size,  was  the  taverns,  or 
"  publics,"  the  name  of  which  was  legion,  each  having 
its  distinctive  sign.  Here  were  to  be  found  the  Red 
Cross,  the  Blue  Cross,  and  crosses  of  all  hues  of  the 
rainbow  ;  the  Red  Rose  and  the  White  Rose  as  rivals, 
typical  of  the  ancient  houses  of  Lancaster  and  York  ; 
the  Thistle  and  the  Shamrock  both  rivalling  the  Rose, 
and  again  a  more  compromising  publican  bore  aloft  a 
trinity  of  all  three  ;  Red  Lions,  Green  Boars,  Blue  Ele 
phants,  and  other  impossibilities  in  zoology,  boldly  as 
serted  the  reality  of  their  existence,  while  Swans  and 
Magpies  on  one  side  of  the  street  eyed  Crooked  Billets 
and  Wheels  of  Fortune  on  the  other,  and  the  Jolly 
Tar  near  the  landing  swung  his  tarpaulin  aloft,  and 
kicked  up  his  heels  at  the  whole  'long  shore  tribe  of 
them.  The  landlord  of  this  house  was  especially 
gracious  to  us  all,  and  found  his  account  in  it,  as  our 
men  spent  much  of  their  time  and  money  in  his  es 
tablishment,  so  that  the  Jolly  Tar  was,  for  the  time 
being,  even  more  jolly  than  was  his  wont. 

The  advent  of  an  American  whaleship  at  Sydney 
was  a  rare  occurrence  at  that  day,  though,  two  or  three 
years  later,  it  became  a  fashionable  port  of  resort 
for  Nor'wcstmen,  the  exorbitant  port-charges  to  foreign 
ships  having  been  taken  off,  as  also  the  duties  on  oil 
sold  under  a  certain  quantity.  As  we  had  a  good 


SYDNEY. UP  ANCHOR  FOR  HOME,  ETC.     283 

voyage  in  the  ship,  and  came  on  shore  with  substantial 
linings  to  our  pockets,  we  were  always  welcome  visi 
tors  at  the  "  publics,"  taking  the  wind  out  of  the  sails 
of  all  wool-droghers,  soldiers,  and  bar-room  loungers 
generally.  It  was  "  Get  up,  Jack,  and  let  John  sit 
down,"  when  the  Yankee  whaler's  men  were  coming. 
I  made  the  acquaintance  of  an  intelligent  seaman  at 
the  Jolly  Tar,  a  Philadelphian,  who  had  been  here 
some  time,  having  been  left  sick  in  the  hospital  from 
an  American  brig,  and  was  anxious  to  ship  and  go 
home  with  us  if  possible.  Speaking  of  the  landlord  of 
the  house,  this  Ashton  said  to  me  : 

"  You  would  hardly  believe,  would  you,  that  this  man 
was  sent  here  with  two  pen' worth  of  lag  ? " 

"  Two  pen'orth  of  lag  ! "  said  I,  considerably  mysti 
fied,  "  What  do  you  mean  by  that  ?  " 

"  It  means,"  explained  Ashton,  "  in  the  slang  phrase 
used  here,  that  he  was  transported  for  fourteen  years. 
A  term  of  seven  years  is  called  a  pen'orth  of  lag,  four 
teen  years  two  pen'orth,  and  so  on." 

"  But  you  don't  mean  to  say  that  he  is  a  convict, 
now  ? "  said  I. 

"  Certainly,"  he  returned,  "  but  you  must  not  use 
that  word  here  ;  or,  if  you  do,  don't  speak  it  so  loud. 
Say  a  "government  man.'  He  is  still  under  sentence. 
I  don't  know  what  his  offence  was,  but  a  few  years 
ago  a  small  matter  was  enough  to  transport  a  man. 
The  law  is  changed  now,  and  the  system  is,  I  think, 
abolished  altogether.  No  new  ones  are  brought,  arid 
these  you  see  here  are  old  stock  whose  term  of  service 
has  not  yet  run  out." 


284  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

"  But  can  a  convict,  then,  go  into  business  for  him 
self?" 

"  Yes,  after  he  gets  his  ticket  of  emancipation, 
which  is  generally  granted  to  him  after  two  or  three 
years  of  good  behavior.  He  can  then  go  to  work  for 
himself,  and  is,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  free,  ex 
cept  that  he  cannot  go  out  of  the  colony.  In  most 
cases,  they  don't  want  to,  as  they  are  infinitely  better 
off  here  than  they  would  be  in  England.  I  am  told  that 
some  of  the  wealthiest  men  in  the  colony  are  '  lags.' " 

"  But  why  was  the  system  abolished  ?"  I  asked. 

"  Because,  in  its  practical  working,  it  proved  worse 
than  a  failure.  In  fact,  instead  of  checking  crime,  it 
was  setting  a  premium  upon  it.  It  is  said  that  men, 
who  would  like  to  emigrate  to  this  country  but  could 
never  accumulate  money  enough  to  pay  their  passage, 
would  commit  a  theft,  so  as  to  be  sent  here  at  gov 
ernment  expense.  They  would  then  conduct  them 
selves  well,  so  as  to  get  their  tickets  of  emancipation, 
go  to  work  for  themselves,  and  send  home  the  means 
to  bring  their  families  out.  Indeed,  it  is  said  there 
were  not  a  few  cases  where  the  wife,  too,  committed 
theft  in  order  to  join  her  husband,  for  women  were 
transported  as  well  as  men." 

"  But  the  system,  if  it  did  not  prevent  crime,  an 
swered  the  purpose  of  peopling  the  colony,  I  sup 
pose  ? " 

"  Hardly  that,"  said  Ashton,  "  except  with  rogues 
and  felons  ;  for  the  really  honest  and  industrious  classes 
who  form  the  great  bulk  of  those  who  come  to  Austra 
lia,  would  hardly  desire  to  emigrate  to  a  penal  settle- 


SYDNEY. — UP  ANCHOR  FOR  HOME,  ETC.    285 

ment,  full  of  desperadoes  and  thieves.  The  colony  has 
not  grown  as  fast  in  population  under  the  system,  as 
it  would  without  it,  or  as  it  will  hereafter.  But  here 
comes  some  of  the  crew  of  that  whaling  bark  that 
got  in  this  morning.  She  got  seven  hundred  barrels, 
and  left  the  ground,  with  whales  plenty,  because  the 
men's  time  was  up." 

"Do  they  ship  for  a  fixed  length  of  time,  then  ?  " 
"  Yes,  it  is  specified  in  the  articles  ;  and  not  only  the 
length  of  the  voyage,  but  the  price  they  are  to  receive 
for  their  oil  when  they  arrive.  I  went  down  to  see 
the  agents  of  the  Lady  Blackwood,  that  sailed  yester 
day.  I  had  some  idea  of  shipping,  but  they  had  al 
ready  as  many  foreigners  on  the  articles  as  the  law 
allowed.  They  were  ready  to  ship  me  if  I  would  make 
oath  that  I  was  a  British  subject,  but,  of  course,  I  de 
clined  doing  so,  and  that  was  an  end  of  the  negotiation. 
We  were  to  sign  for  eighteen  months,  and  to  have 
fifty  pounds  a  tun  for  our  oil,  to  have  two  glasses  of 
grog  a  day  and  lime-juice,  pursuant  to  the  Act  of 
Parliament,  and  the  devil  knows  what  else,"  said  Ash- 
ton,  with  a  laugh  ;  "  but  come,  let's  go  up  to  the 
'Royal  Victoria  Theatre,'  and  spend  the  evening. 
The  seamen  will  all  rally  there  to-night,  for  '  Black- 
eyed  Susan '  is  announced  on  the  bills." 

After  the  play  was  over,  we  came  down  to  the  Jolly 
Tar,  and  stepped  in  to  take  a  parting  glass,  as  I  intend 
ed  going  on  board  in  one  of  the  wherries,  several  of 
which  were  moored  near  by,  the  watermen  having  -a 
little  watch-house,  or  shanty,  where  they  could  make 
themselves  comfortable  and  where  one  or  more  of 


286  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

them  could  be  found,  ready  for  a  job,  at  all  hou  :s  of 
the  night.  It  was  getting  late,  and  the  public  house 
was  deserted  and  quiet,  though  not  yet  closed.  There 
was  no  one  in  the  bar  when  we  entered,  but  a  single 
small  lamp  was  burning  on  a  shelf.  As  Ashton  was  a 
boarder  in  the  house,  he  was  perfectly  at  home  there, 
and  he  passed  through  into  a  back  room  to  call  some 
one  to  attend  to  our  wants  at  the  bar.  While  waiting 
for  him,  I  saw  the  form  of  a  stout  man  pass  across 
the  doorway,  and  disappear  by  a  narrow  entry  or  pass 
age  leading  towards  the  back  of  the  house.  I  saw 
that  he  had  on  a  blue  flannel  shirt,  such  as  English 
seamen  usually  wear,  and  supposing  him  to  be  a 
boarder  about  retiring  for  the  night,  gave  no  further 
thought  to  the  matter.  The  landlord  made  his  ap 
pearance  to  wait  upon  us,  and,  after  taking  our  parting 
nip,  we  lingered  a  moment  outside  under  the  little 
veranda  in  frorit. 

"  There's  a  strange  sail  in  these  waters,"  said  Ash- 
ton.  "  Did  you  see  the  man  who  went  out  at  the 
back  door  while  you  stood  in  the  bar  ? " 

"  Yes,  I  saw  a  man,"  I  answered  ;  "  but  thought  he 
was  one  of  the  regular  crew  of  the  house.  I  shouldn't 
know  him  again  if  I  met  him,  for  I  only  had  a  glimpse 
of  him  for  a  moment,  and  that  by  a  dim  light." 

"  Well,  that,"  said  he,  "  is  a  runaway  convict — I  beg 
his  pardon — a  government  man.  He  doesn't  know 
me,  but  his  face  is  familiar  to  me,  for  I  have,  seen 
him  several  times  at  work  ;  in  the  chain-gang,  too.  I 
suppose  our  landlord  is  hiding  him,  and  he  will  lurk 
round  here  till  he  gets  a  chance  to  escape  into  the 


SYDNEY. UP  ANCHOR  FOR  HOME,  ETC.    28/ 

bush,  or  else  to  get  on  board  of  some  vessel.  How 
ever,  it  is  none  of  my  business.  If  he  can  make  his 
escape,  why,  let  him,  I  say." 

"  Well,  so  do  I,"  I  replied.  "I  don't  think  either 
of  us  would  turn  informer  for  the  sake  of  the  reward 
that  may  be  offered  for  him.  Well,  good-night."  I 
hailed  a  waterman,  and  in  a  few  minutes  was  on  board 
the  Arethusa. 

We  were  ready  for  sea  within  a  few  days  after  this 
occurrence,  and,  though  we  had  enjoyed  our  stay  at 
this  port,  we  were  all  impatient  to  lift  our  anchor  for 
the  last  time,  as  we  hoped,  before  dropping  it  off  Nan- 
tucket  Bar.  Peter,  the  Mani  Kanaka,  took  his  dis 
charge  here,  as  he  had  no  desire  to  go  to  America, 
and  had  been  offered  a  chance  as  boatsteerer  in  a  Syd 
ney  whaler.  I  could  not  help  feeling  deeply  at  part 
ing  with  the  brave  fellow,  who  had  stood  by  me  so 
faithfully  in  the  adventure  at  Dominica,  and  whom  I 
should  probably  never  see  again.  My  friend  Ashton 
was  shipped  to  fill  this  vacancy. 

It  was  a  fine  morning  when  we  hove  short  and 
loosed  our  foretopsail,  with  the  stars  and  stripes  flying 
at  the  mizzen  peak,  and  waited  for  the  police-boat 
which  we  saw  pushing  off  to  board  us,  as  is  done  in 
the  case  of  every  vessel  leaving  this  port.  The  first 
order  of  the  officer  in  charge  of  the  boat  was  to  have 
the  crew  mustered.  We  were  all  drawn  up  on  the 
quarter  and  main  deck,  our  number  counted,  and  our 
names  called  and  responded  to.  We  remained  as  we 
had  been  drawn  up,  while  the  police,  armed  with  pistols 
and  swords,  proceeded  to  search  the  ship.  This  form 


288  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

is  always  gone  through  with  on  board  of  every  out 
going  vessel ;  but  in  our  case  the  search  was  more 
rigidly  conducted  than  usual.  The  cabin  and  forecas 
tle  were  examined  ;  the  hatches  were  taken  off,  and 
the  between  decks  rummaged  by  armed  men  in  every 
direction  ;  the  galley,  the  round  house,  the  boats,  and 
every  place  above  deck  capable  of  concealing  a  man, 
were  visited  ;  and  the  cover  was  lifted  off  the  try  works 
to  get  a  look  into  the  pots.  The  result  was  satisfac 
tory  to  the  officer  that  all  were  on  board  who  ought  to 
be,  and  no  others. 

"  Captain,"  said  he,  "  I  have  detained  you  to  make 
a  strict  search,  for  the  reason  that  a  notorious  crimi 
nal,  known  as  '  Galway  Mike,'  made  his  escape  from 
the  chain-gang  a  few  days  ago,  and  is  still  at  large. 
He  has  probably  gone  back  into  the  bush,  for  he  got 
away  once  before,  and  was  nearly  two  years  a  bush 
ranger,  and  you  know,  I  suppose,  what  sort  of  a  life 
that  is.  It  is  but  a  few  weeks  since  he  was  captured, 
and  he  has  managed  to  get  off  again.  But  our  search 
of  your  ship  has  been  thorough,  and  I  presume  that 
you  and  your  officers  are  willing  to  give  your  word  of 
honor  that  there  is  no  concealed  man  on  board,  to 
your  knowledge." 

Of  course  they  were  ready  to  do  so. 

"  That  is  sufficient,"  said  the  boarding  officer. 
"  You  can  take  up  your  anchor  now,  understanding, 
of  course,  that  you  are  to  hold  no  communication  with 
the  shore  by  boats  after  doing  so.  I  am  sorry  to  have 
delayed  you  so  long,  but  my  duty  must  be  done.  I 
wish  vou  good-morning,  and  a  pleasant  voyage." 


SYDNEY. UP  ANCHOR  FOR  HOME,  ETC.     289 

He  had  hardly  landed  at  the  pier,  before  our  anchor 
was  being  bowsed  up  to  the  cat-head  with  the  roaring 
chorus  of  "Time  for  us  to  go  !  "  -and,  under  our  three 
topsails  and  jib,  we  were  shooting  out  of  our  berth 
and  threading  our  way  among  the  fleet  of  shipping. 
The  pilot  left  us  when  near  "  the  Heads,"  and  the 
long  Pacific  waves  again  tossed  our  noble  ship  along 
with  her  cutwater  pointed  homeward.  We  were 
busied  in  securing  the  anchors,  and  getting  everything 
in  sea  trim  generally,  and,  with  a  fresh  breeze  on  our 
quarter,  we  had  run  the  coast  of  New  South  Wales 
well  into  the  dim  distance  before  getting  our  meridian 
observation. 

"  Mr.  Grafton,"  said  the  captain,  as  he  took  his 
quadrant  from  the  case,  "  you  may  set  the  foretop- 
mast-staysail.  It  will  'do  some  good  with  the  wind 
out  here  on  the  quarter." 

"Ay,  ay,  sir,"  answered  the  mate.  "  Stand  by  to 
hoist  the  staysail,"  said  he,  as  he  came  forward. 
"Jump  out  there,  Kelly,  and  cast  that  stop  off." 

The  staysail  had  been  furled  ever  since  the  night 
we  let  go  our  anchor  in  Sydney,  being  stowed  flat 
down  on  the  netting,  and  stopped  with  a  short  piece 
of  small  rope.  Kelly  had  cast  off  the  stop,  and  sung 
out  "  Hoist  away ! "  when  he  nearly  lost  his  bal 
ance  and  fell  overboard,  as  the  folds  of  the  canvas 
opened  before  him,  and  a  powerful,  sun-browned 
man,  with  hair  and  beard  close  shaven,  leaped  out 
on  the  bowsprit,  and  stood  staring  into  his  astonished 
eyes. 

"  Hillo  !  "  shouted  the  mate  ;  "  Who  the  devil  is  this 


2QO  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

boarding  us  over  the  bows  ?  Here,  this  way,  you, 
sir !  Where  did  you  come  from  ?  " 

The  strange  man  had  by  this  time  jumped  in  on 
deck,  and  casting  a  glance  astern  at  the  dim  outline 
of  the  land  melting  in  the  horizon,  muttered : 

"  All  right,  he  wont  put  back  now  to  land  me." 

"  That's  the  very  man  who  was  lurking  round  the 
Jolly  Tar/'  said  Ashton  to  me,  as  he  came  aft  with  the 
mate. 

"  Who  are  you  ? "  asked  Captain  Upton.  "  A  con 
vict,  I  suppose,  or  you  wouldn't  be  shaved  and  shin 
gled  so  closely.  Either  an  escaped  convict,  or  a  de 
serter  from  the  army.  Are  you  the  man  they  were 
searching  for  this  morning  ?  " 

The  stranger  folded  his  arms,  and  answered  boldly  : 

"  Yes,  sir  ;  I'm  an  escaped  convict,  as  you  call  it,  or 
as  I  should  say,  a  runaway  lag.  I  am  the  very  man 
they  were  looking  for  this  morning.  My  name  is — 
never  mind  what  it  really  is — I  am  best  known  as 
Gal  way  Mike." 

I  observed  that  there  was  no  Irish  accent  in  his 
speech.  The  title  by  which  he  was  known  was  evi 
dently  a  misnomer. 

4<  And  how  long  have  you  been  stowed  away  in  the 
staysail  ? " 

"  Since  last  night,  sir  ;  "  he  replied. 

"  Did  any  of  my  crew  help  you,  or  stow  you  away  ?  " 

"  No,  sir.  No  one  of  them  knew  I  was  there  until 
now,  and  you  would  not  have  known  it  till  to-morrow, 
if  you  hadn't  had  occasion  to  hoist  the  sail/' 

"  And  what  do  you  expect  me  to  do  with  you  now  ?  " 


SYDNEY. UP  ANCHOR  FOR  HOME,  ETC.     2QI 

asked  the  captain,  who  was  evidently  impressed  by 
the  man's  speech  and  bearing,  and  who  had  that 
repugnance  that  all  seamen  feel  to  delivering  up  to 
justice  any  man  who  has  thrown  himself  on  their 
protection.  The  certainty  of  a  hundred  pounds  re 
ward,  would  not,  probably,  have  tempted  a  man  of  the 
ship's  company  to  vote  for  putting  back  to  land  him, 
though  none  of  us  really  wanted  him  as  a  shipmate. 

"  You'll  do  what  you  please  with  me,  of  course," 
answered  the  convict,  coolly.  "  I  don't  care  much 
what  it  is,  so  that  you  don't  carry  me  back  to  the 
chain-gang.  I  hope  you  wont  do  that,  sir." 

"  No,  I'm  sure  I  shall  not  do  that,  with  a  forty 
miles  offing,  a  strong  westerly  wind,  and  homeward 
bound  ; "  said  the  old  man. 

"  Well,  sir,  I'm  willing  to  do  duty  and  act  a  man's 
part  on  board  the  ship,"  said  Galway  Mike.  "  I'm 
not  much  of  a  sailor,  but  I've  been  a  short  time  at 
sea,  and  I'm  strong  and  willing." 

"  But  I  don't  want  you ; "  replied  the  captain. 
"  My  crew  list  is  full,  and  I  shall  not  carry  you  to 
America,  for  no  one  there  would  thank  me  for  it,  if 
what  is  said  of  your  past  life  is  true." 

"  Never  mind  what  is  said  of  my  past  life,  now,  sir," 
he  interposed  ;  "  I  shall  neither  confirm  nor  deny  any 
thing.  What  is  to  be  done  with  me,  then  ?  " 

"  I  shall  be  obliged  to  land  you  somewhere  in  New 
Zealand,  though  I  suppose  that  amounts  to  nearly  the 
same  thing  as  carrying  you  back  to  Sydney,"  said  the 
old  man,  with  a  shade  of  regret. 

"  Not   at  all,  sir,"  said  Mike,  "  unless  you  put  me 


2Q2  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

directly  into  the  hands  of  the  authorities.  If  you  will 
land  me  so  that  I  can  have  a  few  hours  start  of  them, 
they  may  whistle  for  me.  I'm  quite  willing  to  take 
my  chance  among  the  Maories." 

"  All  right ! "  returned  the  captain,  glad  to  be  able 
to  compromise  with  his  sympathies  in  this  way.  "  I 
shall  make  the  land  in  a  few  days,  and  will  set  you 
ashore  there  somewhere.  How  did  you  get  on  board  ? 
by  swimming  ?  " 

"  Yes,  sir.  I  swam  under  the  bows,  and  climbed  up 
the  chain  cable." 

"Well,  I  must  say  you  showed  good  judgment  in 
selecting  a  hiding-place,"  said  the  captain,  with  a 
laugh.  "  What  would  you  have  done  if  we  had  set 
the  staysail  when  we  first  got  under  way  ? " 

"  I  say  nothing  about  what  I  would  have  done  un 
der  circumstances  that  did  not  occur,"  answered  the 
man  quietly.  "  I  should  have  done  all  that  could  be 
done.  It's  not  the  first  runaway  business  that  I've 
had  to  do  with." 

"  I  presume  not  ; "  the  captain  replied,  laughing 
again,  for  he  was  amused  at  the  stranger's  oddity  and 
perfect  coolness.  "  Well,  go  forward  and  tell  the 
cook  to  give  you  some  dinner  with  the  rest,  for  you 
must  be  sharp-set  by  this  time.  I  will  do  as  well  as 
I  can  by  you,  but  I  must  get  rid  of  you  at  New  Zea 
land,  anyhow." 

"  Thank  you,  sir ! "  answered  Galway,  as  he  passed 
forward  among  the  crew. 

"  What  do  you  think  of  him,  Mr.  Grafton  ?  "•  said 
the  old  man. 


SYDNEY. UP  ANCHOR  FOR  HOME,  ETC.     2Q3 

"  He's  no  Irishman.  There's  no  Mike  about  him, 
nor  Galway  either,"  said  the  mate.  "  My  honest  be 
lief  is,  that  he  is  an  American,  though  how  he  got 
out  here  as  a  transported  convict  I  expect  would  be 
a  long  story.  It's  useless  to  ask  him  about  it,  that's 
evident." 

"  Quite  so,"  answered  the  captain.  "  But,  come,  I 
have  lost  my  latitude,  talking  with  him,  and  the  stew- 
ward  is  waiting  dinner  for  us." 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

HOMEWARD. THE    EPISODE    OF    GALWAY    MIKE. CAPE 

HORN. THE  LAST  WHALE. 

THE  inspiring  cry  of  "  There  she  blows  ! "  greeted 
our  ears  the  third  day  after  leaving  Sydney,  and  two 
sixty-barrel  bulls,  tugging  at  the  fluke-chains  that 
night,  were  the  rich  reward  of  our  hard  day's  labor, 
putting  us  all  in  high  spirits,  for  another  hundred  bar 
rels  would  fill  the  ship,  and  this  we  hoped  to  get  some 
where  on  the  passage.  Our  progress  was  somewhat 
delayed,  of  course,  as  we  were  obliged  to  lose  the  fair 
wind  while  cutting.  We  had  the  last  "junk"  in  the 
tackles,  when  a  sail  was  seen  to  windward  running 
down  across  us,  and,  on  drawing  nearer,  was  made 
out  to  be  a  small  hermaphrodite  brig.  He  seemed  to 
recognize  us,  for,  instead  of  running  down  across  us, 
he  rounded  to  windward  and  lowered  his  boat.  As 
he  came  up  to  the  wind,  exposing  his  broadside  to 
view,  we  had  no  difficulty  in  recognizing  a  little  brig- 
antine  that  lay  a  little  inshore  of  us,  while  in  Sydney. 
"  That's  the  Paramatta  !  "  said  a  dozen  voices  at  once, 
and  no  one  knew  her  better  than  our  supernumerary 
shipmate.  He  said  not  a  word  to  those  near  him,  but 
went  aft  to  the  captain.  He  stood  respectfully  on  the 
lee  side  of  the  quarter  deck,  waiting  till  the  old  man 


HOMEWARD. — THE    EPISODE,    ETC. 

should  be  at  liberty  to  notice  him.  Nothing  in  his 
manner  or  appearance  indicated  that  he  was  at  all 
disturbed  or  alarmed. 

"  Well,  Mike,"  said  the  old  man,  as,  shutting  up  his 
spy-glass  and  turning  round,  he,  for  the  first  time,  per 
ceived  him.  "  What's  the  word  ?  You  know  that 
fellow,  I  suppose  ?" 

"  O,  yes,  sir.  That's  the  Paramatta,  bound  to  Auck 
land.  I  suppose  it's  all  up  with  me." 

"  How  so  ?  "  asked  the  old  man.  "Do  you  mean  to 
go  on  board  and  give  yourself  up  ? " 

"  No,  sir,  not  I  ;  I  shall  never  go  unless  I  am  carried 
by  force  ;  but  I  thought  perhaps  you  might  give  me 
up,  as  it  would  save  you  the  trouble  and  delay  of  land 
ing  me  at  New  Zealand.  Perhaps  I  did  you  injustice 
in  thinking  so.  I  hope  I  did,  sir." 

"  Of  course  you  did,  Mike,"  said  the  captain,  se 
verely.  "  I  gave  you  my  word  that  I  would  land  you, 
and  I  shall  keep  it.  Perhaps  you  had  better  keep  out 
of  sight  for  the  present,  as  I  don't  care  to  have  it 
known  that  you  are  on  board  my  ship,  and  some  of 
the  boat's  crew  might  recognize  you." 

"  All  right,  sir,"  replied  the  convict.  "  I'll  be  all 
snug  before  they  get  here.  His  crew  wouldn't  be 
likely  to  blow  upon  me  any  more  than  yours  would, 
but  old  Pickering  himself  would  sell  me  at  sight  to 
get  the  reward.  He  would  like  nothing  better  than 
to  take  me  to  Auckland.  You  see  he  isn't  a  regular- 
built  seaman,  sir ;  he's  a  sort  of  'long  shore  trader." 

"I  see,"  said  the  old  man.  "Well,  he  wont  be 
much  the  wiser  for  his  visit  to  me.  But  here  he  is, 


2Q6  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

close  under  our  quarter.  You  wont  need  any  instruc 
tion  about  hiding  yourself,  for  you  are  qualified  to 
teach  me,"  he  added,  with  a  laugh,  as  Mike  passed 
forward  and  vanished  below  the  deck. 

"  It's  very  likely,"  said  the  old  man,  walking  to  the 
mainmast,  and  raising  his  voice  for  the  benefit  of  all 
who  might  be  within  hearing,  "  that  some  inquiries 
will  be  made  about  that  man  who  is  not  down  by  name 
on  the  ship's  articles.  As  for  myself,  I  don't  mean  to 
know  anything  about  him.  The  rest  of  you,  of  course, 
are  at  liberty  to  turn  informers,  if  you  wish  to.  I 
should  be  sorry  to  think  any  of  my  men  would  do  so, 
but  I  have  no  authority  to  dictate  what  subjects  you 
shall  talk  about." 

He  had  said  enough  ;  Mike's  secret  was  perfectly 
safe.  Pickering,  the  skipper  of  the  brigantine,  a 
"comfortable"  looking  Englishman,  with  thin  side 
whiskers,  and  a  general  roast-beef  appearance,  stepped 
on  deck  and  shook  hands  with  Captain  Upton. 

"  Ah !  captain,  youVe  got  a  good  cut,  I  see." 

"  Yes,"  answered  the  old  man.  "  WeVe  had  greasy 
luck,  and  got  a  couple  of  nice  whales.  When  did  you 
leave  Sydney  ? " 

"  The  same  day  that  you  did,  in  the  afternoon. 
Have  you  got  a  strange  man  on  board,  captain  ? " 

"  I  don't  see  any,"  said  our  conscientious  skipper, 
glancing  innocently  forward  among  the  groups  of  men. 
"  Your  harbor  police  overhauled  me  pretty  severely 
before  I  tripped  my  anchor,  and  they  didn't  see  any, 
either." 

"  Yes,  I  noticed  they  spent  some  time  on  board  of 


HOMEWARD. — THE   EPISODE,    ETC. 

you.  But  there  was  a  mighty  stir  among  them  within 
two  hours  after  you  left.  The  keeper  of  that  public 
near  the  landing  was  arrested  for  having  harbored  and 
concealed  him.  Some  one  informed  against  him,  and 
it  was  proved  that  this  Galway  Mike  had  been  seen 
near  the  house  the  evening  before,  and  so,  instead  of 
putting  back  into  the  bush,  it  was  thought  he  had  gone 
on  board  some  vessel." 

"  The  Jolly  Tar  is  fallen  into  melancholy,  then,  I 
suppose," 

"  Yes,"  replied  Pickering ;  "the  landlord  had  his 
'  ticket '  revoked,  for  he  was  a  lag  himself.  He  was 
lugged  up  to  Hyde  Park  Barracks  and  put  into  uni 
form.  He  will  have  to  serve  out  his  time  in  the  stone 
quarry." 

"  But  don't  you  think,"  asked  the  old  man,  "  that  if 
that  convict  had  been  on  board  the  ship,  he  would  have 
shown  himself  before  this  time  ?  " 

"  Yes,  he  would,"  said  the  Englishman,  "  unless 
some  of  your  men  are  parties  to  his  concealment,  and 
furnish  him  with  food.  In  that  case  he  might  be  con 
cealed  for  some  time." 

"  So  he  might,"  said  our  captain,  dryly.  "  That's 
true." 

"  He  may  be  hid  somewhere  on  board  at  this  mo 
ment,"  observed  Pickering,  in  a  low  and  mysterious 
tone. 

"  I  shouldn't  wonder,"  answered  Captain  Upton,  in 
the  same  manner.  "  Or  he  may  be  on  board  the  Par 
amatta." 

"  He  wouldn't  be  likely  to  run  from  New  South 


THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

Wales  to  New  Zealand,  if  he  could  get  any  other  voy 
age.  There's  thirty  pound  reward  offered  for  his  ap 
prehension,"  said  Pickering. 

"  Is  there,  indeed  ?  That's  quite  an  object.  But, 
come,  let's  go  below  and  take  something.  I'm  too 
busy  to  hunt  for  the  man  now,  but  if  I  should  find 
him  on  board  before  I  get  to  New  Zealand,  I'll  land 
him  there." 

They  reappeared  in  a  few  minutes,  and  Pickering 
manned  his  boat  and  left  us.  The  brigantine  was 
soon  running  off  on  her  course,  and  the  convict  was 
again  at  work  among  the  rest. 

"  His  fingers  are  itching  for  that  thirty  pounds,  Mr. 
Grafton,"  said  the  old  man.  "  He  didn't  make  any 
thing  by  coming  here.  I  didn't  tell  him  any  lies 
though — or,  at  least,  nothing  but  Quaker  lies,"  said 
he,  compromising  with  his  conscience.  The  mate 
laughed,  evidently  understanding  what  he  meant;  but 
Mr.  Dunham  inquired  his  meaning. 

"  Well,"  said  the  captain,  in  explanation,  "you  don't 
remember  Uncle  Reuben  the  shoemaker,  but  Mr. 
Grafton  does.  I  went  there  to  be  measured  for  a  pair 
of  boots,  and,  of  course,  I  asked  him  when  they  would 
be  done  ?  '  Well,'  said  he,  '  thee  may  come  in  seventh- 
day  night.'  So  at  the  appointed  time,  I  went  for  my 
boots,  and  he  hadn't  begun  on  them  yet.  I  was  much 
disappointed,  for  I  expected  to  have  worn  them  on 
Sunday,  and  I  said  to  him,  indignantly  :  'You  told  me 
they  would  be  done  Saturday  night.'  '  O,  no  ! '  said 
Uncle  Reuben,  in  his  mild  way  ;  '  I  didn't  tell  thee 
so.  I  told  thee,  thee  might  come  seventh-day  night, 


HOMEWARD. — THE   EPISODE.    ETC.  299 

and  that  was  just  what  I  meant.  If  they  were  done, 
thee  could  have  them  ;  if  not,  I  would  tell  thee  when 
to  come  again.'  Now  that  was  as  near  a  lie  as  any 
thing  that  I  said  to  Captain  Pickering." 

We  finished  boiling  and  stowing  down  our  oil,  and 
again  cracked  sail  on  the  ship.  On  the  twelfth  day 
after  leaving  our  port  we  made  the  North  Cape  of 
New  Zealand,  and  the  islands  named,  by  Tasman, 
"  The  Three  Kings."  We  stood  in  near  the  coast, 
looking  for  an  eligible  place  to  set  our  man  ashore,  and 
the  old  man  said  to  him  : 

"  I  suppose,  Mike,  you  wouldn't  want  to  be  landed 
very  near  the  Bay  of  Islands  ?  " 

"  No,"  said  the  convict,  "  I  would  rather  not.  Put 
me  among  the  Maories,  and  that  is  all  I  want.  There 
is  a  headland  here  not  far  off.  I'll  tell  you  when  we 
come  to  it.  There,  I  can  see  it  now,"  said  Mike,  who 
appeared  to  be  better  acquainted  with  the  coast  than 
any  one  on  board.  "  There  is  the  entrance  to  a  snug, 
land-locked  bay  called  by  the  natives,  Wangaroa.  It's 
not  generally  known  to  whalers  yet,  but  will  be  visited 
more,  by  and  by.  Put  me  on  the  rocks,  anywhere 
within  the  entrance,  and  I'll  give  you  no  more  trouble. 
I  am  known  among  that  tribe  there.  The  English 
authorities  will  not  find  me,  there.  The  Maories  are 
in  a  state  of  war  with  the  English,  and  they  are  not  to 
be  despised  when  they  fight  in  their  own  way,  among 
their  native  mountains." 

We  hove  to  off  the  place  indicated,  and  lowered  our 
boat,  taking  the  convict  himself  as  our  pilot.  He  shook 
hands  heartily  with  everybody,  seeming  neither  elated 


30O  THE    LOG   OF   THE   ARETHUSA. 

nor  despondent,  but  self-collected  and  impassible  as 
he  always  was.  He  took  with  him  nothing  but  an 
old  musket  and  some  ammunition  which  the  old  man 
had  given  him.  We  rounded  a  point  of  rocks  and 
pulled  a  short  distance  into  the  bay,  when  two  Maories, 
on  an  elevation  a  short  distance  from  us,  hailed  us,  at 
the  same  time  bringing  their  muskets  up  to  the 
shoulder.  We  ceased  pulling  and  lay  on  our  oars. 
The  convict  rose  and  answered  them  in  their  own 
dialect,  seeming  to  speak  it  quite  fluently.  They  an 
swered  again,  and  a  short  conference  seemed  to  pro 
duce  satisfactory  results,  for  they  lowered  their  guns 
and  descended  the  hill  towards  us,  after  giving  a  louder 
shout  than  any  before,  to  which  we  could  hear  a 
responsive  yell  from  voices  further  up  the  bay. 

"  They'll  pass  the  word  all  the  way  over  those 
mountains,"  said  our  cool  and  ready  companion. 
"  There's  a  chain  of  sentinels  and  pickets  on  every 
hill.  It's  all  right  ;  these  fellows  know  me  well.  Lay 
right  in  for  that  flat  rock,  and  I'll  land  there." 

We  did  so  ;  he  jumped  out  on  the  ledge  of  rock, 
and  with  a  single  "  good-by  "  to  us,  he  rushed  up  to 
meet  the  two  natives  half-way.  They  seemed  to 
greet  each  other  as  former  acquaintances  might,  and 
the  three  disappeared  over  the  brow  of  the  hill  together, 
as  we  pulled  out  at  the  mouth  of  the  bay.  This  was 
the  last  that  any  one  of  us  ever  saw  of  our  "  govern 
ment  man  ;  "  but  some  two  years  afterwards,  I  read, 
by  accident,  in  a  Sydney  newpsaper,  an  account  of  a 
smart  and  bloody  skirmish  between  the  English  troops 
and  the  Maori  tribes,  and  among  the  slain  had  been 


HOMEWARD. — THE   EPISODE,    ETC.  3OI 

found  the  body  of  a  white  man,  tattooed  in  the  face 
like  a  chief  of  rank,  and  it  was  recognized  as  that  of  a 
desperado  long  known  in  the  colonial  settlements  as 
Galway  Mike.  Thus  read  the  statement  in  the  Gazette, 
and  this  is  all  I  know  of  his  history. 

The  passage  across  the  South  Pacific  Ocean  is  mo 
notonous  and  barren  of  incident.  From  New  Zealand 
to  Cape  Horn  we  had  rugged  weather  and  strong 
winds,  for  the  most  part  fair  for  running  on  our  course, 
at  times  blowing,  day  after  day,  with  the  regularity  of 
trades,  again  hauling  a  few  points  so  as  to  trim  for  it 
on  the  other  quarter,  and  in  one  or  two  instances 
increasing  to  a  gale,  so  violent  as  to  compel  us  to 
heave  to  for  the  safety  of  the  ship.  As  we  approached 
Cape  Horn  we  again  encountered  the  cutting  hail 
squalls  which  seem  almost  peculiar  to  this'part  of  the 
world,  but  with  the  wind  aft,  we  did  not  mind  them  so 
much  as  when  outward  bound.  Rolling  off  before 
the  westerly  gales  with  sufficient  press  of  canvas  on 
the  ship  to  keep  her  well  clear  of  the  mountainous  seas 
in  chase  of  her,  with  everything  well  secured,  and 
careful  men  at  the  wheel,  we  laughed  at  the  weather 
now,  and  wondered  at  our  own  progress,  as  we  count 
ed  off  five,  six,  or  seven  degrees  of  longitude  each  day, 
and  reckoned  how  many  more  days  at  this  rate  of 
sailing  ere  we  should  have  room  to  edge  away  to  the 
northward  and  begin  to  steal  towards  a  milder  climate. 
Degrees  of  longitude  are  short  ones  in  this  latitude, 
and  we  seem  to  be  "  putting  a  girdle  round  about  the 
earth,"  if  not,  like  Puck,  "  in  forty  minutes,"  yet  still 
at  a  rate  that  appears  to  us  marvellous,  as  we  find  our 


3O2  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

clock  nearly  half  an  hour  behind  the  sun  each  day  at 
meridian,  and  push  her  ahead  to  keep  her  up  to  our 
flying  rate  of  progress. 

Land  ho !  most  welcome  to  our  eager  eyes,  rough, 
barren  and  uninhabitable  though  it  be,  the  storm- 
beaten  rock  of  Diego  Ramirez,  for  it  tells  us  where  we 
are,  better  than  the  whole  slateful  of  figures.  "  Shake 
out  another  reef  !  "  she'll  bear  it !  another  day's  run, 
and  we  can  shove  her  off  north-east  on  the  "  home  side 
of  the  land  " — the  towering  seas  gather  and  roll  on 
after  us — but  keep  the  canvas  on  her  and  she  will 
keep  ahead  of  them — every  one  of  them  shoots  her 
on  towards  "  Home,  sweet  home  " — Diego  Ramirez 
fades  into  the  dark  squall  astern,  and  if  the  wind 
stands  where  it  is,  we  shall  catch  Cape  Horn  asleep. 
That  squall  has  passed — it  is  not  so  heavy  as  it 
promised  to  be — "  Give  her  the  mainto'gallantsail !  " 
We  must  make  the  most  of  the  breeze  while  we  have 
it,  for  we're  homeward  bound  !  The  sun  rises  brightly 
this  morning,  and  the  wind  is  fresh  yet,  and  canting 
to  the  southward  — "  Never  mind  !  let  her  slide  off  two 
points,  east-north-east  now!"  for  we've  plenty  of  sea 
room — we're  in  the  Atlantic  ! 

We  passed  to  the  eastward  of  the  Falklands,  and 
were  nearly  on  the  ground  where  we  lost  our  third 
mate,  when  outward-bound.  Of  course  the  melancholy 
circumstance  was  recalled,  and  talked  over,  and  the 
captain  mentioned  that  some  twelve  years  previous, 
when  mate  of  the  Colossus,  he  had  struck  a  whale  in 
this  vicinity,  and  lost  him  in  consequence  of  his  iron 
breaking. 


HOMEWARD. THE    EPISODE,  ETC.  303 

"  I  hope; '  said  he, "  to  see  whales  yet  in  crossing  this 
ground.  It  bids  fair  to  be  a  good  day  to-morrow,  and 
I  think  we  will  shorten  sail  at  night  and  let  her  jog 
easy,  so  as  to  take  a  good  look  along  here.  One  large 
whale  would  be  all  we  want  to  chock  us  off,  and  we 
would  go  home  with  flying  colors." 

The  next  morning  we  had  hardly  got  the  reefs 
shaken  out,  when  whales  were  raised.  There  were 
several  of  them,  but  they  did  not  appear  to  run  together, 
but  were  seen  here  and  there  in  different  directions, 
and  were  also  irregular  in  their  time  of  rising  and 
going  down. 

"  These  whales  have  been  gallied,"  said  the  old 
man,  "  and  have  not  got  regular  yet.  Some  ship  has 
been  whaling  here  yesterday,  I  think.  But  here  is  one 
off  the  lee  quarter  that  I  think  can  be  struck,  Mr. 
Grafton.  You  and  Mr.  Dunham  lower  away  and  go 
down  there  and  try  him,  and  I  will  wait  a  while  and 
take  the  ship's  chance.  If  you  get  fast,  I'll  come 
down  there  to  you." 

Away  we  went  off  to  leeward,  but  it  soon  appeared 
that  his  whaleship  was  too  shy  for  us,  and  was  play 
ing  a  dodge  game  with  us.  In  vain  we  tried  to 
"  prick  for  him  ;  "  we  spread  our  chances,  and  used 
our  best  judgment,  but  all  to  no  purpose.  He  always 
rose  in  some  unexpected  quarter,  and  spouting  but  a 
few  times,  was  down  again  before  we  could  get  near 
enough  to  "  stand  up."  At  length  he  took  a  start 
and  went  off  to  leeward  at  a  round  pace,  and  led  on  by 
our  ardor  in  the  chase  we  pursued  it  until  we  were 
full  three  miles  from  the  ship,  when  it  became  evident 


304  THE    LOG    OF   THE    ARETHUSA. 

that  he  was  moving  faster  and  faster  at  each  rising, 
and  we  abandoned  the  chase,  especially  as  the  ship 
showed  no  signs  of  running  off,  but  still  lay  aback  in 
the  same  position  as  when  we  lowered.  We  laid  round 
the  heads  of  our  boats  towards  the  ship,  and  pulled  to 
windward,  wondering  why  the  old  man  still  kept  his 
luff,  when  up  went  the  ensign  at  the  peak,  and  the 
small  signal  at  the  main  was  run  up  and  down  several 
times  in  rapid  succession. 

"  Give  way  hard,  boys  ! "  said  the  mate.  "  We  are 
wanted  in  a  hurry.  The  old  man  must  have  lowered 
and  struck  a  whale  to  windward,  and  wants  help.  Per 
haps  he's  stove  !  spring  hard  and  shoot  her  up  there  !  " 

We  put  our  strength  to  the  oars  with  a  will,  the 
second  mate  keeping  way  with  us,  and,  though  doing 
our  best,  it  seemed  in  our  anxiety  and  impatience, 
that  he  did  not  make  any  headway.  The  signal  was 
now  and  then  run  up  and  down  again  hurriedly, 
speaking  the  most  urgent  language  of  which  it  was 
capable.  We  saw  men  on  the  bearers,  apparently 
trying  to  clear  away  the  lashings  of  the  spare  boat 
which  was  turned  up  overhead,  but  soon  this  seemed 
to  be  abandoned.  We  could  make  out  now,  as  we 
drew  nearer,  that  the  cooper  was  on  the  hurricane 
house,  waving  with  all  his  might  to  us  and  thus  stimu 
lated  to  greater  exertion,  we  toiled  away  at  our  oars, 
the  boats  jumping  into  the  head  sea,  and  sending  the 
spray  all  over  us.  We  could  hear  them  hailing  us 
from  the  ship,  long  before  we  could  make  out  the 
words.  We  could  see  them  pointing  to  windward,  as 
if  to  tell  us  we  were  needed  there.  Up  across  the 


HOMEWARD. THE    EPISODE,  ETC.  305 

stern  we  held  our  long  and  strong  stroke,  receiving 
the  information  as  we  passed,  that  the  old  man  had 
struck  a  whale  off  the  weather  bow,  and  he  had  run  him 
into  the  "  sun-glaze,"  so  that  they  could  not  see  him 
from  the  ship,  and  they  thought  he  must  be  stoven. 
He  could  not  be  far  off,  however,  as  he  was  not  more 
than  a  mile  from  the  ship  when  last  seen. 

"  Give  way  hard,  boys  ! "  said  the  mate  again. 
"  Brace  forward,  Cooper,  and  down  tacks ! "  but  he 
was  already  mustering  his  small  force  for  this  purpose. 
We  "  laid  back  "  on  our  oars,  the  mates  heaving  at 
the  stroke  oars,  and  keeping  a  sharp  look  out,  not  pul 
ling  directly  at  the  glare  of  the  sun,  but  in  a  direction 
abaft  it  so  as  to  look  broad  off  the  bow  and  beam  of 
the  boat.  Soon  the  mate's  countenance  lighted,  and 
he  threw  her  head  suddenly  off  with  the  steering 
oar. 

"  Here  they  are  !  "  said  he,  "  and  not  far  from  us, 
either  !  Spring  hard,  men  !  They're  all  on  the  wreck 
— two,  four,  five,  six — all  safe  yet  !  " 

They  were,  indeed,  all  safe  as  yet  ;  but  we  were 
none  too  soon,  for  they  were  nearly  exhausted,  as  there 
was  a  smart  sea  on,  washing  over  them,  and  they  had 
all  they  could  do  to  keep  their  positions,  the  strongest 
assisting  and  encouraging  the  others.  My  friend 
Ashton  was  almost  gone  when  I  dragged  him  into  our 
boat  ;  a  few  minutes  more  would  have  finished  him. 
The  whole  bottom  of  their  boat  was  crushed,  she  had 
filled  and  rolled  over  with  them,  and  they  had  all  clung 
to  the  bottom. 

"Nevermind  the  boat,"  said   the   old   man, "she 

20 


306  THE    LOG    OF   THE    ARETHUSA. 

isn't  worth  picking  up.  Set  a  waif  for  the  cooper  to 
tack  and  stand  towards  us.  Let's  get  on  board,  some 
of  us  and  get  the  spare  boat  out.  I  think  we  shall  see 
the  whale  again  if  we  work  up  to  windward  a  tack  or 
two." 

The  ship  went  about,  and  soon  hove  to  again  close 
to  us.  We  shot  alongside,  put  the  half-drowned  men 
on  board,  and  had  hardly  done  so  when  the  whale 
came  up  in  the  ship's  wake,  distance  less  that  half  a 
mile.  "  Shove  off  !  "  was  the  word,  and  we  were  af 
ter  him  again  with  two  boats,  while  the  captain  with 
his  force  were  already  rousing  the  third  one  off  the 
bearers.  The  second  mate  got  the  lead  this  time  and 
was  fast  a  few  minutes  after  pushing  astern  of  the  ship. 
The  whale  rounded  to,  and  "  showed  good  play,"  and 
we  were  quickly  on  hand  to  let  more  blood  from  him. 
He  was  already  weakened  from  his  wounds,  and  a  few 
touches  of  the  lance  made  him  our  prize.  The  spare 
boat  was  not  called  into  service  ;  but  another  short  tack 
with  the  ship,  and  with  shouts  of  triumph  that  rang 
loud  and  clear  over  the  sea,  we  hauled  alongside  our 
last  whale,  that  was  to  "  chock  off  "  the  between  decks 
and  fill  all  our  spare  casks.  Our  perils  in  the  at 
tack  of  these  monsters  were  over,  for  this  voyage, 
No  more  hard  pulls  to  windward — no  involuntary  sea 
bathing — no  more  tedious  "  mastheads  "  to  be  stood. 
Well  might  we  shout  over  this  "  last  but  not  least " 
of  our  hard-earned  prizes. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

HOMEWARD. 

The  whale  recognized  as  an  old  acquaintance. — Inci 
dents  of  the  run  home. — Nantucket  again. 

THE  last  whale  !  How  many  pleasant  recollections 
are  associated  with  this  landmark  in  the  voyage  !  How 
many  congratulations  were  exchanged  among  us,  and 
how  many  smart  things  said  !  Sweethearts  and  wives 
are  especially  remembered,  for  both  married  and  sin 
gle  are  in  high  feather,  and  this  is  emphatically  a  red- 
letter  day  in  the  Arethusa's  calendar.  The  work  of 
cutting  goes  bravely  on,  amid  a  running  fire  of  good- 
natured  remarks  and  spicy  jokes,  which,  of  course, 
between  the  regular  "  natives  "  bear  something  of  a 
personal  character;  for  every  true  knight  of  the  isl 
and  chivalry  in  those  days  had  his  "  ladie-love,"  whose 
image,  held  in  fond  remembrance,  fired  his  heart  and 
nerved  his  arm  in  his  perilous  encounters  with  levia 
than.  Each  of  our  Nantucketers,  on  occasions  like 
this,  called  to  mind  some  fair  face  and  form,  his  life- 
partner,  either  in  esse  or  in  posse  ;  all  had  either  wives 
to  maintain  or  wives  to  obtain.  The  captain  himself 
is  not  slow  to  take  part  in  this  badinage,  for  we  are 
cutting  the  last  whale  now,  and  it  is  a  time  to  waive 
the  little  restraints  of  rank. 

307 


308  THE    LOG    OF   THE    ARETHUSA. 

"  This  is  a  noble  whale,  and,  being  the  last  one,  of 
course,  the  blubber  is  uncommonly  fat,"  said  he,  as  he 
drove  his  sharp  spade  into  it,  and  slashed  it  into  con 
venient  pieces  with  true  professional  pride  ;  "  this  is 
the  one  that  pays  for  the  bridal  outfits  and  town  clerk's 
fees.  Let's  see,  Mr.  Grafton,  we  shall  get  invitations 
to  three  weddings,  certain.  I  don't  know  but  more, 
but  we  may  count  on  three." 

"  Mr.  Bunker  thinks  we  needn't  count  on  him," 
said  the  mate. 

"  Nonsense  !  "  returned  the  old  man.  "  He  thinks 
we  Newtowners  don't  know  his  cruising-grounds,  be 
cause  the  first  landfall  he  means  to  make  is  away  up 
North  Shore  Hill.  But  he  can't  throw  any  dust  in  my 
eyes." 

"You  didn't  mean  to  count  me,  sir,"  said  Fisher, 
"  for  I  never  have  anything  to  do  with  the  women." 

"  No,  of  course  not,"  said  the  captain.  "  I'll  bet 
that  within  forty-eight  hours  after  we  all  get  our  new 
sails  bent,  I  shall  meet  you,  head  and  head,  coming 
down  the  fashionable  side  of  Orange  Street,  with  stud- 
dingsails  out  both  sides — sweeping  common  folks  like 
me  right  off  into  the  gutter." 

"  Well,  I've  got  sisters,  you  know,  sir,"  said  Fisher 
with  a  half-blush.  "  I  must  show  them  round." 

"  Yes,  I  know  it  ;  but,  if  the  Fortitude  gets  home 
ahead  of  us,  one  of  your  sisters  wont  want  your  ser 
vices." 

"  That's  so,"  put  in  the  second  mate.  "  You  can 
set  a  new  studdingsail  on  that  boom,  Fisher." 

"  There,  you  haven't  a  word  to  say,  Mr.  Dunham," 


HOMEWARD.  3OQ 

replied  the  captain.  "  If  you  were  landed  there  to 
day,  there  would  be  an  invasion  of  '  Egypt,'  and  a 
*  rush  to  arms '  in  that  quarter  of  the  world  that  would 
equal  anything  in  the  days  of  Bonaparte.  A-a-ah! 
my  spade  !  "  said  he,  suddenly  changing  his  tone. 
"  I've  struck  a  ringbolt — no,  it  isn't — it's  something 
in  the  blubber — head  of  an  iron — somebody  has  had 
a  crack  at  this  whale  before." 

He  pulled  it  out,  and  wiped  it  off  with  a  piece  of 
canvas,  scraped  it  lightly  with  his  jackknife,  and  ex 
amined  it  with  an  incredulous  look. 

"  Eureka !  "  he  shouted  at  last,  holding  up  the  frag 
ment  of  the  harpoon."  Here's  my  iron  !  Who  says 
he  isn't  my  own  whale,  when  he  has  carried  my  mark 
these  twelve  years ! " 

It  was  even  as  he  said.  There  was  little  more  than 
the  barbed  head  left,  for  it  must  have  been  long  be 
fore  the  wound  cicatrized,  and  the  small  part  of  the 
shank  had  been  reduced  to  a  mere  shred  of  iron 
from  the  effects  of  long  attrition  and  corrosion  ;  but 
fairly  legible  on  the  thick  centre-piece  of  the  head 
were  the  marks  boldly  cut  with  a  chisel,  S.  COL'S. 
L.  B. 

"  Ship  Colossus' s  Larboard  Boat,"  said  the  old  man, 
triumphantly.  "  Shouldn't  want  any  more  evidence 
in  case  of  life  and  death.  It's  twelve  years  since  I 
struck  that  fish — the  first  time,  I  mean." 

The  last  round  of  blubber  has  been  "  piked  off  ;  " 
the  last  pot  of  oil  "baled  down  ;  "  the  last  pipe  stowed 
that  "  chocks  off  betwixt  decks,"  and  Old  Jeff's  im 
mense  "  plantations  "  displayed  in  a  triumphant  double- 


3IO  THE   LOG   OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

shuffle  on  the  main  hatches.  Now  comes  the  expect 
ed  and  welcome  order.  "  Overboard  tryworks  !  " 
Crowbars,  hammers,  or  whatever  else  will  serve  the 
purpose,  are  seized,  and  rapidly  the  cumbrous  pile  of 
greasy  bricks  and  mortar  disappears  under  our  vigor 
ous  blows,  the  pots  alone  being  saved  for  the  next 
voyage  ;  the  deck  is  washed  and  planed  off  where  it  had 
stood  ;  and  the  old  strainer,  shattered  by  hard  service, 
and  half-charred  by  the  fire,  travels  the  same  road, 
overboard.  We  are  all  astonished  that  our  ship  has 
such  a  spacious  maindeck  ;  and  she  herself,  by  her 
more  buoyant  and  elastic  movement,  seems  to  share 
in  the  general  joy,  at  being  relieved  of  this  unsightly 
burden. 

Still  onward,  homeward,  she  bounds  along  !  down 
into  the  south-east  trades,  where  the  duty  of  dressing 
her  up  for  home  begins  ;  where  the  operations  of  fit 
ting,  rattling  down  and  tarring  down  furnish  ample 
employment  for  us  all  ;  where  outward-bound  mer 
chantmen  are  met,  and  passed  every  day,  and  longi 
tudes  compared  by  chalking  them  in  gigantic  figures 
on  boards,  like  showmen's  posters ;  where  the  south 
east  trades  haul  to  north-east,  and  knock  us  off  into 
the  "  bight  of  Brazil,"  compelling  us  to  beat  off  and  on 
for  several  days ;  where  catamarans,  or  triangular  rafts, 
fully  officered  and  manned  by  one  Portuguese,  come 
off  several  miles  to  sea,  to  catch  fish,  and  to  sell  them, 
too,  if  a  passing  ship  comes  conveniently  near  ;  where 
a  big,  black  steamer,  evidently  of  Yankee  build,  but 
wearing  the  gorgeous  Brazilian  flag,  and  showing  the 
name  "  Bahiana,'' passes  almost  within  hail  of  us.  We 


HOMEWARD.  3  I  I 

are  favored  with  a  slant  of  wind  at  last ;  Cape  St. 
Augustin  is  doubled  and  left  astern,  the  towers  of 
Pernambuco  are  seen,  with  ships  in  the  roadstead, 
and  now  the  coast  again  trends  to  the  westward,  and 
is  soon  lost  to  our  view. 

"  Sail  ho  !  "  a  whaler,  too,  right  from  home  !  Now 
for  a  gam,  for  newspapers,  perhaps  letters,  too,  for 
some  of  us,  for  books,  for  tobacco !  She  hails  us,  and 
gives  her  name  as  the  "  Delta,  of  Greenport."  No 
letters  for  us  there  ;  but  we  get  bundles  of  New  York 
papers,  and  peruse  them,  all  four  pages,  from  "  clew 
to  earring,"  advertisements  and  all.  They  are  filled 
with  politics,  for  this  is  campaign  year  (1844),  and  of 
course,  we  are  highly  competent,  after  nearly  three 
years'  absence,  to  understand  the  issues  of  the  hour  ! 
Not  a  word  is  said  about  the  National  Bank,  or  the 
Sub-Treasury,  or  any  of  the  old  bones  of  contention 
which  are  familiar  to  us,  but  everything  is  Texas  or 
no  Texas.  Henry  Clay's  name  is  prominent,  and  ex 
cites  no  wonder,  for  his  fame  has  long  been  national ; 
but  "  who  is  James  K.  Polk  ?  " 

The  equator  is  crossed,  and  now  how  we  check  off 
the  degrees  of  latitude,  day  by  day,  as  we  run  them 
up  in  the  north-east  trades,  for  we  are  on  the  home 
side  of  the  line  !  Our  rigging  is  all  fitted  and  tarred 
down,  and  a  coat  of  paint  from  the  mastheads  down 
to  the  water-line,  inside  and  out,  works  a  wonderful 
change  -in  the  appearance  of  our  noble  ship.  How 
eagerly  we  hail  the  first  patches  of  gulf-weed !  and 
as  we  plough  through  immense  quantities  of  it,  day 
after  day,  and  haul  great  snarls  of  it  in  on  deck. 


312  THE   LOG    OF   THE   ARETHUSA. 

wonder  what  is  the  use  of  it,  and  what  becomes  of  it 
all,  finally  ? 

We  pass  Bermuda  without  the  usual  heavy  squalls 
characteristic  of  that  locality,  but  off  Hatteras  we  lie  to 
a  couple  of  days,  and  ride  out  a  "  clear  nor' wester," 
which  seems  to  blow  out  of  the  sun  and  stars,  rather 
than  the  clouds.     Block  Island  is  our  first  landfall ; 
and,  leaving  this  on    our    port    bow,  we   shape   our 
course  for  the  Vineyard  Sound.     It  is  nearly  night 
when  we  see  a  pilot-boat  coming  for  us,  and  every 
heart  leaps  with  joy  at  the  thought  of  soon  being  at 
anchor  in  a  home  port.     Merrily  we  rouse  up  the 
chain  cables  from  their  rusty  lockers,  and  tumble  the 
anchors  off  the  bow;  our  maintopsail  is  thrown  aback, 
and  the  pilot-boat  shoots  up  within  hail. 
"What  ship  is  this  ?"  he  asks. 
"  The  Arethusa,  of  Nantucket." 
"  O  yes  !     how  d'ye  do,  Captain  Upton  ?     You  look 
deep,"  says  the  pilot. 

"  Full  ship,"  replies  the  old  man,  rather  proudly. 
"What's  sperm  oil  worth  ?  " 

"  'Bout  eighty-five  cents.  Haint  you  got  a  piece 
of  salt  pork  to  spare,  captain  ?  " 

"  Yes,  half  a  dozen,"  answers  the  captain,  who, 
knowing  the  ropes,  has  it  all  prepared  beforehand. 
"  Here,  pass  this  meat  into  the  boat." 

"  Now,  haint  you  got  a  few  fathoms  of  second-hand 
towline  that  you  can  spare  as  well  as  not  ?  You  see 
my  peak-halyards,  they're  about  worn  out." 

"  Here  it  is,  waiting  for  you,"  says  the  old  man, 
with  a  laugh.  "  It's  the  most  remarkable  thing,  that 


HOMEWARD.  313 

a  Sound  pilot-boat's  peak-halyards  always  are  about 
worn  out  !  Here,  pass  this  coil  of  line  into  the  boat. 
I  suppose  you  can  get  us  into  Oldtown  to-night,  can't 
you  pilot  ? " 

"  Well,  I  guess  you  don't  want  to  go  in  there,  cap 
tain.  I  can  get  you  in  to-night  as  far  as  Holmes' 
Hole,  anyhow,  and  if  it's  fair  weather  in  the  morning 
I'll  take  you  right  down  to  the  Bar,  and  the  camels  will 
take  you  in." 

"  Ah,  yes,  the  camels  ;  they're  a  new  institution  that 
we've  never  seen  yet.  They've  been  built  since  we 
were  away.  Do  they  work  well  ?  " 

"  O,  yes,  indeed,"  says  the  pilot,  "  pick  the  ship  right 
up,  cargo  and  all,  and  back  her  into  the  harbor  and 
drop  her  alongside  of  the  wharf." 

"Good,"  says  Captain  Upton;  "  those  are  the  very 
animals  that  I  want  to  see." 

"  I  reckon  the  folks  down  to  Nantucket  are  getting 
worried  a  little  about  you,  captain.  They  heard  from 
you  on  Japan,  somewhere  in  the  middle  of  the  season, 
but  they  didn't  hear  of  your  being  at  the  islands  in  the 
fall,  when  we  got  the  reports  from  the  fleet.  'Spose  you 
made  a  port  in  some  out-of-the-way  place  ? " 

"Yes,  I  made  a  running  cruise  of  it,  and  didn't  an 
chor  till  I  made  my  last  port  in  Sydney ;  so  I've 
brought  my  own  report  from  there." 

We  ran  into  Holmes'  Hole  and  anchored  at  nine 
o'clock  among  a  large  fleet  of  coasting  vessels,  who 
had  made  a  harbor  for  the  ni^ht  like  ourselves.  Be 
fore  daylight  in  the  morning  we  were  heaving  up  again, 
and,  with  a  fair  wind,  we  ran  down  for  Nantucket  Bar 


314  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

with  all  our  bunting  flying.  Down  goes  our  anchor 
again  in  the  old  berth  which  we  left  three  years  ago, 
the  sails  are  rolled  up  to  the  yards  in  a  hurry,  and  a 
boat  is  lowered  to  pull  the  captain  ashore.  The  owner 
is  seen  with  his  horse  and  the  inevitable  green  box  on 
wheels,  waiting  on  the  cliff  shore  to  receive  him,  and 
take  him  to  the  arms  of  his  family.  The  boat  pulls 
square  in,  and  lands  him  on  the  north  beach,  and  re 
turns  to  the  ship,  for  an  immense  black  Noah's-ark- 
looking  craft  is  already  seen  moving  out  of  the  docks 
in  the  harbor,  which  the  pilot  tells  us  is  "  the  camels." 
Several  boats  soon  arrive,  with  friends  and  relatives 
of  the  Nantucket  men.  Here  is  our  worthy  mate's 
son  in  one  of  them,  a  stout,  well-grown  lad  and  evident 
ly  a  "  chip  of  the  old  block;"  and  here  in  another 
boat  is  an  embryo  "  Cape  Horner,"  a  young  brother  of 
Obed  B.,  who  is  already  shipped,  and  is  to  sail  in  a 
fortnight. 

"  Ah,  Obed  ; "  he  says,  as  he  hops  in  over  the  rail, 
with  hands  outstretched,  and  his  nut-brown,  young 
face  lighted  up  with  pleasure  and  excitement,  "  I'm  go 
ing  in  the  Ranger  ;  and  if  you  hadn't  got  home  just  as 
you  did,  you  wouldn't  have  seen  me  for  I  don't  know 
how  many  years.  Yes,  the  folks  are  all  well  at  home, 
and  the  camels  will  have  you  into  the  wharf  before 
night.  The  steamer  will  be  along  soon.  We've  got 
a  new  steamboat,  too,  since  you  went  away.  Say, 
Obed,  I  got  the  dollar  from  Captain  Upton's  wife  this 
morning.  I  was  the  first  boy  that  knew  it  was  the  Are- 
thusa.  One  of  the  men  came  down  out  of  the  old 
south  tower,  and  told  me  what  signal  the  ship  had  set, 


HOMEWARD.  3  I  5 

and  I  put  for  the  captain's  house.  I  got  the  dollar, 
and  then  I  dug  for  another,  for  I  knew  where  the 
mate's  wife  lived,  too  ;  but  some  other  boys  had  found 
it  out  by  that  time,  and  I  had  a  tight  race  for  it  with 
Jack  Manter,  but  I  was  tired  then,  I  had  run  so  far, 
and  Manter  got  ahead  of  me,  and  sung  out  first,  as  he 
rushed  into  the  front  entry,  but  I  tumbled  right  in 
after  him.  Mrs.  Grafton  was  scared  half  to  death  at 
first,  till  she  understood  what  the  matter  was,  and 
then  she  laughed  and  cried  both  at  once,  and  handed 
out  a  dollar,  and  said  we  might  divide  it,  if  we  liked, 
but  it  belonged  to  Jack,  for  he  was  a  little  ahead  of 
me,  and  I  didn't  care  much,  for  I'd  got  one.  Some 
mates'  wives  don't  give  but  half  a  dollar,"  said  he, 
pausing  to  get  breath. 

I  cannot  stop  to  hear  any  more,  for  here  is  Rich 
ards,  still  out-door  clerk  of  Messrs.  Brooks  &  Co.,  and 
he  is  the  only  man  likely  to  have  any  news  for  us  "  off 
islanders."  He  is  ready  with  a  hearty  greeting  and 
handshaking,  and  is  prepared  to  "  infit "  us  with  cloth 
ing  of  any  style,  price  or  quality,  as  soon  as  we  land. 
He  produces  a  bunch  of  letters  which  have  been  direct 
ed  to  various  ships  expected  to  arrive  soon,  "  care  of 
Brooks  &  Co.,"  and  rapidly  shuffles  them  over.  Yes ! 
there  is  my  loved  sister's  handwriting,  and  here  is  an 
other  from  my  parents.  I  teai  them  open  with  a  beat 
ing  heart ;  all  is  well  with  those  nearest  and  dearest  to 
me.  That  is  enough  for  the  present.  I  will  read  the 
details  when  more  at  leisure,  and  in  a  few  days  I  will 
be  with  them.  I  shall  not  writs  in  reply,  but,  like  the 
ship,  I  will  bring  home  my  own  report. 


3l6  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

"  Here  comes  the  camels  round  Brant  Point  !  " 
cries  the  mate,  running  with  the  spyglass  to  look  at 
the  clumsy,  floating  dock  which  is  creeping  slowly  at 
us,  without  any  visible  means  of  propulsion,  so  far  as 
we  can  see,  for  the  propellers  are  under  the  stern.  It 
looks  like  nothing  in  the  way  of  naval  architecture 
that  we  have  ever  seen,  but  might  serve  as  an  im 
mense  floating  battery,  to  be  moored  for  the  defence 
of  a  harbor.  As  it  draws  nearer,  we  can  see  that  it 
is  built  in  two  parts,  being  divided  lengthwise.  The 
inside  of  each  section  or  half  is  built  concave  to  re 
ceive  the  hull  of  the  ship,  and  to  fit  round  her  sides, 
and  under  her  bilge  and  floor,  as  nearly  as  possible  to 
its  general  form.  The  two  parts  are  connected  by 
several  heavy  chains,  which  are  secured  on  the  deck 
of  one  "  camel,"  passing  down  through  it  under  the 
keel  of  the  ship,  and  up  through  the  other,  where  they 
are  hove  taut  with  windlasses. 

The  camels  having  taken  up  their  position  near  the 
ship,  the  plugs  are  drawn,  allowing  them  to  fill  with 
water  and  sink.  Being  now  ready  to  receive  the  ship, 
our  anchor  is  hove  up,  lines  streamed,  and  she  is 
hauled  in  between  them.  The  connecting  chains  are 
then  hove  taut  by  the  windlasses,  and  thus  the 
ship  is  completely  docked,  her  bottom  resting  fairly 
on  the  concave  inner  surfaces  of  the  camels,  and  the 
chains  passing  under  her  keel.  She  is  now  ready  to 
be  raised,  and  as  soon  as  the  steamboat  heaves  in 
sight,  returning  from  her  regular  trip  to  New  Bedford 
the  steam  pumps  are  set  in  operation  throwing  out 
the  water  from  the  camels.  The  steamer  passes 


HOMEWARD.  317 

within  hail,  and  goes  on  into  the  harbor  to  land  her 
mails  and  passengers,  the  captain  promising  to  return 
at  once  and  hook  on  to  us.  Meanwhile  the  steam- 
pumps  work  steadily  on,  throwing  out  the  water,  and 
the  whole  fabric  is  seen  gradually  to  rise,  inch  by  inch, 
till  the  water  is  all  out,  and  the  ship  is  lifted  out  of  the 
water,  the  camels  themselves  being  flat  and  the  draft 
very  light.  We  are  just  in  time  for  the  returning 
steamboat,  hawsers  are  run  to  us,  she  takes  us  in  tow, 
and  after  a  short  struggle  to  overcome  the  vis  inertia 
of  the  immense  arklike  contrivance,  we  move  along 
under  good  headway.  We  round  Brant  Point  and 
steam  up  nearly  to  the  end  of  the  wharf,  when  the 
steamer  leaves  us,  the  camels  are  filled  and  sink  down 
again,  the  ship  is  dropped  out  from  between  them, 
lines  run  to  the  pier,  and,  in  a  few  minutes,  she  is  tied 
up  head  and  stern  alongside  her  wharf,  and  ready  to 
discharge  her  oil.  "  Hurrah  for  the  camels  !  "  is  the 
sentiment  of  every  man  on  board,  and  of  nearly  every 
one  on  shore,  too,  except  the  lightermen  whose  "  oc 
cupation  is  gone." 

Our  old  landlord  is  on  hand  to  furnish  us  board  and 
lodging  at  the  old  rates  ;  Messrs.  Brooks  &  Co.  are 
in  the  same  place,  the  same  business  operations  are 
going  on  now  as  three  years  ago,  and  the  same  knots 
of  seafaring  men,  or,  at  least,  their  very  counterparts, 
pervade  "  the  store,"  and  pass  their  time  in  much  the 
same  manner.  No  one  seems  to  have  changed  or 
grown  any  older.  There  is  nothing  new  under  the  sun 
but  the  camels  and  the  steamer  "  Massachusetts." 

Of  course,  we  could  not  be  paid  off  until  the  oil  was 


3l8  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

discharged  on  the  wharf,  gauged,  and  filled  up,  so  that 
our  "  lays  "  could  be  calculated  exactly.  This  detained 
me  several  days  ;  for,  although  I  might  have  drawn 
money  from  the  owners,  or  from  Brooks  &  Co.,  yet 
I  preferred  to  settle  up  the  whole  matter  before  going 
home  to  my  friends,  rather  than  to  be  under  the 
necessity  of  returning  to  Nantucket.  I,  of  course, 
took  my  piace  among  the  veteran  whalemen,  now.  I 
had  earned  the  right  tc  wear  a  fine,  blue  roundabout, 
and  morocco  pumps,  with  long  streamers  of  ribbon,  to 
roll  and  swagger  as  becomes  the  "  ancient  mariner," 
and  to  patronize  the  green  hands  who  formed  the  last 
cargo  of  the  Lydia  Ann,  for  that  gallant  craft  is  still 
running  as  good  as  new. 

The  newly-arrived  seaman,  if  he  be  man  enough  to 
keep  himself  sober,  finds  the  time  hang  heavily  on  his 
hands.  A  restless  activity  is  observable  in  all  his 
movements,  and  some  sort  of  excitement  must  be  found 
to  drive  away  the  blues.  It  is  found,  at  least  so  long 
as  the  money  lasts.  We  patronized  the  livery  stables 
extensively  ;  for  every  day  a  string  of  carriages  might 
be  seen  bound  at  racing  speed  to  or  from  Siasconset, 
or  "  South  Shore,"  the  occupants  urging  the  smoking 
horses  to  their  greatest  efforts,  in  desperate  rivalry 
to  "  outsail "  each  other  ;  and  the  cruise  is  a  dull  one, 
and  wanting  in  interest,  unless  there  is  either  a  cap 
size,  a  breakdown,  a  runaway,  or  a  collision.  Jack  is 
no  horseman,  though  he  is  prone  to  think  himself  an 
excellent  one.  His  courage  and  coolness  in  emer 
gencies,  perhaps,  stand  him  in  as  good  stead  as  would 
a  better  acquaintance  with  the  management  of  the 


HOMEWARD.  319 

animal,  for  he  never  becomes  excited  after  the  danger 
arrives,  and  never  loses  his  self-possession  at  the  very 
moment  it  is  needed.  It  is  owing  perhaps  to  this 
fact,  that  he  never  gets  hurt  in  these  little  equestrian 
diversions,  though  he  often  has  heavy  bills  to  pay  for 
repairs,  to  the  livery-stable  proprietors. 

The  bowling-alley  is  another  of  the  seaman's  fa 
vorite  resorts,  where  he  can  strip  to  his  shirt  sleeves, 
select  the  heaviest  balls,  and  sling  them  at  the  pins 
with  a  perfect  abandon  or  "  looseness,"  as  he  would 
term  it.  The  game  is  muscular  and  boisterous,  and 
these  are  its  recommendations  ;  for,  it  is  notable  that 
the  whaleman,  or  at  least,  the  young  whaleman,  never 
affects  billiards.  Gentle  exercise,  such  as  can  be 
taken  with  the  coat  buttoned,  is  not  to  his  taste,  until 
after  he  arrives  at  the  rank  of  chief  mate,  and  has 
more  sedateness,  and  more  dignity  to  maintain. 

But  few  days  are  allowed  me  to  participate  in  the 
rough  sports  of  my  brother  Cape  Homers,  for  the 
stevedore's  gang,  and  the  laborers,  with  the  gauger 
on  the  wharf  have  not  been  idle,  and  the  "  figurer,"  as 
he  is  called  here  (and  who,  by  the  way,  is  not  one  of 
the  owners  of  the  ship,  but  a  disinterested  party),  is 
ready  to  settle  up  and  pay  us  off.  The  next  morning 
sees  a  goodly  number  of  us  on  board  the  steamer, 
bound  for  our  respective  homes.  We  take  our  last 
look  at  the  ship  that  has  borne  us  in  safety  over  so  many 
thousand  miles  of  ocean,  as  she  now  lies  at  the  next 
•wharf,  high  out  of  water,  and  in  process  of  being  strip 
ped  to  a  girtline,  for  she  is  to  be  fitted  out  again  as 
fast  as  possible  under  command  of  Mr.  Grafton.  He 


32O  THE    LOG    OF    THE    ARETHUSA. 

has  offered  me  a  good  berth  in  her,  but  I  have  not 
committed  myself  yet  by  any  decided  answer.  Kelly 
and  Hoeg  are  both  going  with  him,  as  boatsteerers,  of 
course,  and  perhaps  some  of  the  others.  But  I  must 
visit  my  home  in  the  country,  and  look  about  me  a  little 
before  I  make  up  my  mind  for  another  whaling  cruise. 
In  the  meantime,  I  bid  them  a  hearty  farewell,  as  to  all 
others  who  have  accompanied  me,  either  in  the  good 
ship  herself,  or  in  these  sketches,  through  the  pleas 
ures  and  perils,  the  lights  and  shades  of  my  checkered 
cruise  in  the  Arethusa. 


THE    END. 


ADAPTED  FOR  SUPPLEMENTARY  READING  IN  SCHOOLS, 


Young  Folks'  Robinson  Crusoe; 

OR, 

THE  ADVENTURES    OF  AN    ENGLISHMAN 
WHO  LIVED  ALONE  FOR  FIVE  YEARS  ON  AN  ISLAND  OF  THE  PACIFIC  OCEAN. 

2=rsr  .A.   3LuAJ3-sr. 

EDITED  BY  WILLIAM!  T.  ADAMS  (OLIVER  OPTIC). 

"  The  great  merit  of  De  Foe's  work  is  its  naturalness ;  it  seems  to  be  exactly  what 
It  purports  to  be,  the  narrative  of  a  profane,  ill-educated,  runaway  apprentice  of  the 
seventeenth  century ;  and  with  perfect  consistency  of  character,  even  his  better  feel 
ings  have  a  stamp  of  vulgarity  and  superstition.  But  can  such  a  tale,  though  perfect 
in  itself,  be  suited  to  young  folks  who  have  been  carefully  guarded  from  all  profane- 
ness?  It  was  written  for  grown  persons,  particularly  for  that  class  to  which  the 
hero  is  supposed  to  belong,  and  the  very  skillful  manner  in  which  it  was  adapted 
to  them  makes  it  unfit  for  the  perusal  of  young  folks. 

The  best  modern  writers  have  considered  it  important  that  characters  which 
excite  in  young  folks  a  deep  interest  should  be  represented  as  models  of  those 
qualities  which  we  wish  them  to  admire  and  cultivate ;  and  it  occurred  to  the  writer 
of  the  above  story  that  the  fascination  of  De  Foe's  hero  might  be  enlisted  on  the 
side  of  industry,  perseverance,  resignation  to  the  will  of  God,  and  numerous  other 
good  qualities  of  which  he  might  be  supposed  to  be  an  example. 

With  this  -view,  the  Young  Folks'  Robinson  Crusoe  is  here  represented  as  an 
amiable  and  well-educated  youth,  early  trained  to  habits  of  observation  and  reflec 
tion,  and  capable  of  pure  and  exhalted  feelings  of  religion,  —  a  hero,  in  short,  whom 
children  may  safely  love  and  admire,  yet  not  faultless,  or  they  could  not  sympathize 
with  him." — Preface. 

4to.     Illustrated  School   .Edition,  5O  cents,  net* 

LEE  and  SHEPARD,  Publishers,  Boston. 


WITH    80    FULL-PAGE    ILLUSTRATIONS. 


TRIBULATIONS  OF  A  CHINAMAN. 


Translated  from   the   French    of   JULES    VERNE,    by  VIRGINIA 
CUAMPLIN.     Ills.     12mo.     Cloth.     $1.50. 


The  only  tears  which  one  will  shod  over  the  tribulations  of  Jules  Verne's 
Chinamaa  will  be  those  of  excennive  laughter.  No  one  but  thi«  author  of  un 
limited  originally  would  have  had  the  odd  conceit  of  teaching  pbilot-ophy  by  the 
means  of  a  wild-goose  chase,  in  which  the  peculiarities  of  Oe  Chinese  mid  the 
American  rice  are  described  and  contrasted  with  the  richest  buiimr;  and  while 
we  follow  these  original  characters,  we  learn  as  much  of  China  as  from  arerioua 
geography  or  history.  The  twin  spirits  Craig-Fry  are  characters  that  have  had  no 
pantll  -I  in  novel  writing;  America  i*  honor  d  with  their  birth,  imd  though  her 
n  itional  pcculiar'ties  are  strongly  set  forth  in  them,  they  will  become  PO  famous 
us  masterpieces,  when  tho  book  h:is  become  known,  she  need  not  shrink  from 
the  truthful  portrayal.  As  for  Whang  the  philosopher,  we  find  hit*  leesms  of 
ref  >rm  very  practi  -al.  and  we  recommend  him  to  our  reformers  find  philosophers. 
Kin-fo.and  tho  lovely  Le-on,  are  charming  specimens  of  tho  Chinese,  and  their 
lives  and  love  fiffV.M  are  interesting  in  tho  extreme.  The  book  treats  of  too 
many  s  ibjects  to  bnjust'y  characterized  in  a  brief  review;  we  will  simply  Fay 
that  they  are  important  and  suggestive,  there  being  a  serious  purpose  behind  the 
ridiculous  light  in  which  they  are  set  fourth.  Capt.  Rojton  invention  fills  a 
large  part  of  the  story,  and  is  a'strong  and  interesting  feature.  The  book  is  wor'h 
every  one's  reading  for  tho  instruction  and  amusement  to  be  derived  from  the 
chanters  referring  to  ihii*  wonderful  invention,  in  whose  suit  the  most  pr  mining 
character*  spend  n  day  or  two,  ^nd  meet  with  rare  adventures.  No  writer  is 
more  universally  read  than  .Tnlcs  Verne;  hut  he  will  be  now  to  all  in  tlm  laat 
book  and  cannot  fail  to  delight  e\ery  class  of  readers. 


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recommend  its  use  to  all  who  may  come  under  my  instruction." 
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By  AUSTIN  B.  FLETCHER,  A.M.,  LL.B. 

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— A.  A.  Miner,  D  D.,  of  the  Jltlass.  State  Boat  d  of  Education. 

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allow  me  to  say  has  been  compiled  with  rare  taste  and  skill." — George  Riddle, 
Instructor  in  Elocution,  Harvard  University. 

"  A  careful  examination  of  his  chosen  selections,  in  both  prose  and  poetry, 
shows  that  he  has  drawn  upon  the  garnered  gems  of  eloquence  and  wisdom  of 
the  best  authors  of  the  past  and  present  ages.  His  aim  has  been  to  select  pieces 
best  suited  to  teach  the  proper  expression  of  passa^'S,  with  regard  to  the 
feelings,  emotions  and  passions  involved.  \Ve  know  of  no  compi'atio'i  better 
adapted  for  drill  exercises  than  this  book  contains.  Its  scope  affords  abundant 
opportunity  for  the  exercise  of  the  most  difficult,  as  well  as  the  simpler,  forms 
of  gesture  and  action."—  New  England  and  National  Journals  of  Education, 
Boston. 

"  The  book  is  not  only  admirably  fitted  for  the  we  of  the  elocutionist,  butit  is 
a  well-edited  compendium  of  choice  English  literature." —  Boston  Transcript. 

"  Many  teachers  and  students  must  have  felt  the  want  of  j  ust  snch  a  volume  as 
this,  which  takes  up  the  study  just  where  most  of  the  •  readers  '  and  '  speakers' 
leave  it,  and  they  will  find  Prof.  FLETCHER'S  volume  discriminating,  well- 
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"  One  of  the  finest  collections  of  the  kind  ever  prepared," — Boston  Globe. 

"A  well-edited  and  well-made  volume,  intended  and  fitted  to  supply  a  real 
want  in  the  schoolroom."— New  York  Evening  Pout. 

"Prof.  FLETCHER'S  compilation  is  a  commendable  one,  and  is  published  in 
most  excellent  style." — New  York  American. 

"Prof.  FLETCHER  has  experience  and  knowledge,  and  of  course  the  selec 
tions  are  good." — The  Independent. 

"  I  have  examined  your  '  Advanced  Readings  and  Recitations,'  and  am  free  to 
say  that  I  am  pleased  therewith.  The  selections  are  made  with  care,  and  are 
remarkably  well  adapted  to  the  work  of  advanced  classes.  I  most  heartily 
second  your  commendation  of  the  eems  among  the  old  pieces,  and  am  glad  to 
find  so  many  of  them  retained." — Prof.  T.  If.  Kempton,  of  Boston  University. 

"  It  is  undoubtedly  the  finest  and  most  complete  collection  of  elocutionary 
specimens  now  before  the  public,  and  one  which  every  reader  should  procure." 
—  Cleveland  Sun. 


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AND 

OTHER  TYPOGRAPHICAL  MATTERS, 

TOR  THE    U9E    OF 

PRINTERS,    AUTHORS,   TEACHERS   AND   SCHOLARS. 
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Corrector  at  the  University  Prew,  Cambridge. 

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use  aiter  certain  words,"  is  a  trustworthy  guide  in  a  great  number  of  cases. 
of  doubtful  usage.  A  writer's  knowledge  of  English  idiom  and  lu*  style 
are  best  shown  by  his  use  of  these  little  hinges  of  the  language. 

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lexicographers  and  orthoepists.  Also,  to  record  euch  words  as  may  be  pro 
nounced  in  either  of  two  wavs  without  oftence  to  good  taste.  It  is  concise, 
explicit,  and  wastes  no  words.  We  venture  the  prediction  that  ninety-nine 
IHTMOIIS  out  of  every  hundred  who  should  look  tho  book  through,  would 
be  greatly  surprised  to  find  how  many  words  they  are  mispronouncing 
every  day. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 

BT 

Thomas  Wentworth.  Higginson. 

Square  i6mo.     380  pp.    With  over  100  illustrations.     Price,  $1.50. 


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The  theory  of  the  book  can  be  briefly  stated ;  it  is,  that  American 
history  is  in  itself  one  of  the  most  attractive  of  all  subjects,  and  can 
be  made  interesting  to  old  and'young  by  being  presented  in  a  simple, 
clear,  and  graphic  way.  In  this  book  only  such  names  and  dates  are 
introduced  as  are  necessary  to  secure  a  clear  and  definite  thread  of 
connected  incident  in  the  mind  of  the  reader;  and  the  space  thus 
saved  is  devoted  to  illustrative  traits  and  incidents,  and  the  details  of 
daily  living.  By  this  means,  it  is  believed  that  much  more  can  be 
conveyed,  even  of  the  philosophy  of  history,  than  where  this  is  over 
laid  and  hidden  by  a  mass  of  mere  statistics. 

To  give  a  few  instances :  It  is  believed  that  this  mode  of  treatment 
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of  early  discovery  and  emigration,  the  French  and  Indian  war,  the 
origin  of  the  Revolution,  the  state  of  society  after  that  event,  the  rise 
of  political  parties,  and  the  causes  which  led  to  the  Civil  War,  than 
can  possibly  be  obtained  where  the  main  effort  is  to  accumulate  names 
and  dates  in  the  memory.  * 

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use,  where  practicable,  of  the  language  of  the  personages  themselves. 
Thus  the  early  history  of  the  Massachusetts  and  the  Virginia  settlers 
is  given  largely  in  their  own  vivid  phrases,  affording  a  taste  of  the 
charm  of  .hose  early  narratives.  It  is  the  same  with  the  period  of 
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$1.50. 

"  This  book  is  one  of  the  most  entertaining  we  have  read  for  a  long  time.  It  is  well 
written,  full  of  humor,  and  good  humor,  and  it  has  not  a  dull  or  uninteresting  page. 
It  is  lively  and  natural,  and  overflowing  with  the  best  New  England  character  and 
traits.  There  is  also  a  touch  of  pathos,  which  always  accompanies  humor,  in  the  life 
and  death  of  the  tomboy's  mother." — Ne-wburyport  Herald. 

DAISY    TRAVERS; 

Or  the  Girls  of   Hive  Hall.     By  ADELAIDE   F.  SAMUELS,  Author  of  "  Dick  and 

Daisy  Stones,"  "  Dick  Travers  Abroad,"  &c.     161110,  cloth,  illustrated.     $1.50. 

The  story  of  Hive  Hall  is  full  of  life   and   action,  and   told   in    the   same    happy 

style  which  made  the  earlier  life  of  its  heroine  so  attractive,  and  caused  the  Dick  and 

D.usy  books  to  become  preat  favorites  with  the  young.     What  was  said  of  the  younger 

books  can,  with  equal  truth,  be  said  of  Daisy  grown  up. 


The  above  six  books  are  furnished  in   a  handsome  box  for  $9.00,  or  sold 
separate  t  by  all  booksellers,  and  sent  by  mail,  postpaid,  on  receipt  of  price. 

LEE  AND  SHEPARD,  Publishers,   .  .     .     Boston. 


BOOKS    FOR    "OUR    CIRLS." 

THE    GIRLHOOD    SERIES 

By    Popular    Authors. 


AN   AMERICAN    GIRL   ABROAD. 

By  ADELINE  F.  TRAFTON.     i6mo,  cloth,  illustrated.     $t.5o. 

One  of  the  mp>-t  bright,  chatty,  wide-awake  books  of  travel  ever  written.  It  abounds 
in  information,  is  as  pleasant  reading  as  a  story  book,  and  full  of  the  wit  and  sparkle  of 
"  An  American  Girl  "  let  loose  from  school  and  ready  for  a  frolic. 

ONLY    GIRLS. 

By  VIRGINIA  F.  TOWNSEND,  Author  of  "That  Queer  Girl,"  &c.,  &c.     iamo,  cloth, 

illustrated.     $1.50. 

"  It  is  a  thrilling  story,  written  in  a  fascinating  style,  and  the  plot  is  adroitly  handled." 
It  might  be  placed  in  any  Sabbath  School  library,  so  pure  is  it  in  tone,  and  yet  it  is  so 

free  from  the  mawkishness  and  silliness  that  mar  the  class  of  books  usually  found  there, 

that  the  veteran  novel  reader  is  apt  to  finish  it  at  a  sitting. 

THE   DOCTOR'S   DAUGHTER. 

By  SOPHIE  MAY,  Author  of  "  Our  Helen,"  "  The  Asbury  Twins,"  &c.  izmo,  cloth, 
illustrated.  $1.50. 

"  A  delightful  book,  original  and  enjoyable,"  says  the  Brownville  Echo. 

"  A.  fascinating  story,  unfolding,  with  artistic  touch,  the  young  life  of  one  of  our  im 
pulsive,  sharp-witted,  transparent  and  pure-minded  girls  of  the  nineteenth  century," 
says  The  Contributor,  Boston. 

SALLY    WILLIAMS. 

The  Mountain  Girl.     By  Mrs.  EDNA  D.  CHENEY,  Author  of  "Patience,"  "Social 

Games,"  "  The  Child  of  the  Tide,"  &c.  i2mo,  cloth,  illustrated.  $1.50. 
Pure,  strong,  healthy,  just  what  might  be  expected  from  the  pen  of  so  gifted  a  writer 
as  Mrs.  Cheney.  A  very  interesting  picture  of  life  among  the  New  Hampshire  hills, 
enlivened  by  the  tangle  of  a  story  of  the  ups  and  downs  of  every-day  life  in  this  out- 
of-the-way  locality.  The  characters  introduced  are  quaintly  original,  and  the  adven 
tures  are  narrated  with  remarkable  skill. 

LOTTIE    EAMES. 

Or,  do  your  best  and  leave  the  rest.     By  a  Popular  Author.    i6mo,  illus.    $1.50. 
"  A  wholesome  story  of  home  life,  full  of  lessons  of  self-sacrifice,  but  always  bright 
and  attractive  in  its  varied  incidents." 

RHODA    THORNTON'S    GIRLHOOD. 

By  Mrs.  MARY  E.  PRATT.     i6mo,  cloth,  illustrated.     $1.50. 

A  hearty  and  healthy  story,  dealing  with  young  folks  and  home  scenes,  with  sleigh 
ing,  fishing  and  other  frolics  to  make  things  lively. 


The  above  six  volumes  are  furnished  in  a  handsome  box,  for  $q.ao,or  sold 
separately  by  all  booksellers,  or  sent  by  mail,  postpaid,  on  receipt  of  price  by 

LEE  AND  SHEPARD,  Publishers Boston. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


RlEC'D  LD 


MAY  1  *  1963 


\-50m-ll. '62 
(D3279slO)476B 


General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


M549870 


